Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail
by Devilhaze
Summary: Everyone recalls the story of Dragon Ball Z. A tale of fighting, power-ups and lots of screaming. But what if things ended up just a little bit differently, with a couple of memorable faces escaping their canonical fate. This is a story following the events of Dragon Ball Z, but with 2 other pure-blooded saiyans tagging along for the long ride. Rated T for violence and swearing.
1. A low class warrior's survival

Goku had managed to grab a hold of Raditz from behind. Despite how much the saiyan tried to, he was too weak from the blow Gohan had dealt to shake off his little brother. "Kakarot, let go of me! Don't you realize that if he fires off that attack, you will die as well?!"

Goku mustered a weak chuckle as he kept a tight grip on Raditz "That may be true, but unlike you, I have don't have to worry about being dead."

Raditz's eyes widened in panic at the words of his brothers. What was he talking about? Had the damage dealt to him caused him to go insane? Before he could continue his thoughts, his scouter beeped, reminding him of the increasing power level in front of him. He turned to look at the green warrior in front of him, his remaining arm building up energy towards his fingertips.

"Sorry Goku, but I don't plan on hesitating to finish you off. Killing you along with him is a win-win for me." Piccolo grinned as he continued to build up his attack. _Of course, this happiness will be short-lived if your friends succeed in bringing you back with the dragon balls,_ he thought.

Raditz became even more desperate as he tried to shake Goku off, knowing that his time was growing short. "Kakarot please! You have my word that if you let me go now I will leave this planet forever!"

Goku only kept his grip firm and didn't waver. "I'm not gonna fall for that trick. Not a second time. Piccolo, do it!"

Piccolo grinned as he lowered his hand from his forehead. "Sorry to keep you waiting. This is the end for you." He aimed his swung his arm forward and aimed it at the 2 saiyans "Special beam cannon!" A rapid spiraling beam shot out of his fingertips and zoomed straight for Goku and Raditz.

Raditz watched in horror as the beam approached them at rapid speeds. He then got a quick idea and shot a blast at the ground, the impact forcing Goku to let go, giving Raditz the chance to move out of the way. He turned to watch as the beam penetrated through Goku's chest.

Piccolo was horrified to what he just witnessed. While his attack did just pierce through his greatest rival, he had no way of enjoying it since he cant muster any energy to charge up another special beam cannon.

Raditz breathed heavily and grinned as the situation couldn't be any more perfect. With his brother quickly dying and his only opponent being the green one, he should be able to win with ease. However, when he took even a single step, his entire body began to hurt. The damage done by his nephew was a lot more than he realized. He was in no condition to fight. In his condition, he could only fire one more blast, and there was no way it would be able to take care of his remaining opponent.

"Listen here, green man." Raditz said, giving a show of bravado to hide his weakened state. "As much as I'd love to finish you, I have bigger matters to attend to. Once I find a way off this rock, I'll be sure to finish you off!" He fired an energy blast at the ground between them, creating a smoke cloud to cover him as he quickly started to fly away.

Piccolo braced himself in case Raditz was planning another cheap trick, though lowered his guard as he sensed the saiyan's energy quickly get further away. He then turned to Goku and walked over to the fallen warrior. "You still alive there, Son Goku?"

Goku grunts in pain as he lay on the ground with a giant hole in his chest. "Ye.. Yeah.. Though I don't know for how long. Sorry. I wasn't able to hold onto him to let you finish him off." He coughed up some blood as he finished talking.

"With that bastard still alive, who know's what'll happen when he regains his strength." Piccolo turns his head to look at the unconscious Gohan not far from them. _That brat of yours dealt a lot of damage to him. Perhaps I can make use of this time to make use of him before the saiyan can recover._ He then looks up and sees a flying vehicle. Judging by the energies, they're most likely the same ones who were there at Kame House.

Meanwhile, in a secluded area of a forest several miles away from the battle area, the saiyan warrior had landed and nearly collapsed, leaning against a tree with his hand on his chest. "Damn, I think that kid broke some of my ribs. How could this have happened to me? I am a Saiyan warrior, I should have defeated them easily! This never would have happened to the others."

"Of course it wouldn't."

Raditz's eyes widened in horror as he heard a familiar voice in his ear. He had forgotten everything was being broadcast to the other saiyans. "V-Vegeta! How long have you been listening?"

"Ever since you arrived on that planet. And I've gotta say, we're very disappointed with you Raditz." said Vegeta from the other side of the comms, somewhere far in the depths of space.

"Yeah, you had a simple job and you botched it up in more ways than one." said another voice.

Raditz was outright terrified. He knew Nappa and Vegeta would be angry if he didn't convince Kakarot to join up with them, but there was a tone in their voice that was both calm yet overflowing with bloodlust. "I'm sorry Prince Vegeta, but the fool came at me even after my generous offer. Not to mention his half-saiyan brat destroyed my ship. If you can just come here with another ship, I can have this planet completely void of life by the time you arrive."

"You don't get it do you? You didn't just fail to convince Kakarot, you failed to uphold your honor in the fight." Vegeta tossed the arm of a freshly killed alien aside as he spoke to the failed warrior. "Of every creature you came up against on that planet, you failed to kill even a single one. You weren't even the one to secure the kill against Kakarot and had you not made such a cowardly move, you would have surely died as well. You're on your own from now on. Just talking to you is making me sick to my stomach."

"Now hold on Vegeta. That guy who killed Kakarot sounds pretty strong. And who knows if there are any other capable fighters on that planet. Sounds about worth it to check it out, wouldn't you agree?" Nappa says in a convincing tone.

"Maybe you're onto something. Plus Kakarot's brat had quite a high power level for such a small creature. Maybe we should investigate that." Vegeta got up from sitting on the alien's corpse. He pulls out a remote to call his own ship straight to him while Nappa did the same.

"Wait, does that mean you've decided to help me get off this rock?" Raditz felt a brief moment of joy before Vegeta's next words reinstalled his terror.

"Don't get the wrong idea. We have no plans to rescue a useless warrior." Vegeta's tone returned to its menacing tone. "So how about this. You can either stay out of our way while we deal with the inhabitants of the Earth, or you can die along with them. It's your choice." He then cut off communications with Raditz, with Nappa doing the same.

Raditz was petrified. He didn't know what to do now. The only beings in the universe who he could rely on had just given him a deadly ultimatum. He grit his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground. "Damn you Vegeta!"

* * *

 **And that's the first installment of this alternate telling of Dragon Ball Z. I'd been thinking of doing this one for a while and eventually just decided to do it. In the past I've tried to write stories on a weekly basis, but end up burning out rather quickly and not touching on it for months. So I won't make any promises on when the next part will be. If you have any suggestions on what you want to see happen, feel free to let me know and I just might include it. Anyway, that's all for now. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	2. Battle under the moonlight

Raditz grunts as he stands up and stretches his still sore muscles. It's been 2 weeks of resting and he's mostly regained his strength. He looks over at the pile of bones he'd made from the native animals he'd eaten to keep his strength up. "Alright. Now that I've back to at least 70% power, I should be good to move around without worry. Now then, let's see where they're at."

He taps his scouter and sees it functioning differently, not locking in on a target's location. "Damn. I was so busy using it to measure myself as i tried practicing what Kakarot and the green one did that I didn't take into account this thing's battery life." He grit his teeth and figured he'd have to deal with it until he can find a way to recharge it. "Okay, let's see. I can't get a lock on them but from the readings, they're at least in that direction. I'll turn this off just to save energy." He taps his scouter and flies off in the south-west direction.

Meanwhile, Piccolo was watching over Gohan's training. With the threat of the saiyan still on Earth, he decided it would be best to train the kid directly rather than let him fend for himself. He was irritated that the kid wasn't showing much effort in his training but at least he'd made enough progress in these past couple weeks that he'd finally stopped crying all the time.

Piccolo's eyes widened in shock as he felt a familiar power approaching them. Though something wasn't right. What he was feeling wasn't at all possible. "How?! How is he that much stronger than last time? It's only been 2 weeks!"

Gohan turned and looked at Piccolo while holding some berries that he'd planned to eat. "What is it Mr. Piccolo? You look like you've seen a ghost." He looked in the direction that Piccolo was looking but didn't see anything and just ended up confused.

Piccolo grabs Gohan and starts flying in the air, moving East as fast as he could "We have to keep moving right now! We'll continue your training when we land!"

Gohan shouts in surprise as he was grabbed and drops his apples. "But Mr. Piccolo, my apples!"

"There'll be more food for you to eat when we land! If we stop and go back now, there's a chance that we'll both die!"

Gohan started to tear up, causing Piccolo to growl as he looks straight ahead. _Great. 2 weeks and we've managed to backtrack all the way to step 1._

Raditz ended up showing up roughly 10 minutes, stopping mostly to rest. He wasn't exactly in the best condition so he needed to take a breather. When he landed, he noticed the pile of apples and walked over, picking it up. "Now isn't this interesting. This looks fresh. whoever was here ran off. but who.. Ah yes, now that I think about it, the green one was able to detect my presence before I was in view without a scouter."

He turns his scouter back on and turns to to the East. "Damn. Who the hell knows how far away they are and this thing isn't gonna be useful consistently." He turned his scouter back off and felt the ground shake. He turned around and saw an enormous dinosaur staring him down. "Annoying ass animal. I don't have time for you." He aimed his hand, ready to fire an energy blast when his stomach started growling. "Well well, guess those small creatures weren't enough to satiate my appetite. Lucky you, you get to live a couple seconds longer."

Raditz leapt up and slammed his elbow straight into the skull of the dinosaur, killing it in a single blow before it could even respond. He spends a couple hours tearing the meat off and eating it raw. Once he finished he turns his scouter on for a moment to see which direction, then flies that way.

This state of running and chasing lasted a couple weeks. Piccolo had gotten faster with each chase while Raditz was getting more delayed with each chase as his scouter was draining after every chase. Piccolo sat down exhausted from the chases of the day, knowing he had a little while before he had to start running again. He dropped Gohan who awoke from landing on the ground.

"Good morning Mr. Piccolo. Are we safe yet?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes, taking a seat and yawning.

Piccolo looked down at him and crosses his arms. "Yeah, only for a little while though. So don't get used." He looks up and noticed the full moon hanging above them. "Look's like it's already been a month since Son Goku ended up dying."

Gohan widened his eyes as Piccolo just brought up his father's death so easily. He didn't start crying though, since he knew that he'd already cried a lot over his dad's death. "You can really tell that just by looking at the moon?" He decided to look up at the moon as well.

Piccolo sighed as he looked down and closed his eyes "Yeah. It's pretty simple to tell when there was a full moon the day of the battle. Surely you should have picked up on that already."

When Piccolo was met with unnatural silence, he opened his eyes to look at the runt. He was a bit confused to see him just staring at the full moon. He then got up to his feet as he saw said runt start to grow, both in physical size and in power. He leapt backwards high in the air as he watch the usually whiny little kid transform into an absolutely massive ape, terrified that the boy's power had grown even larger than the saiyan that had been chasing them the past few weeks.

The giant ape went on a complete rampage, smashing down the environment and rock faces with ease. It showed no signs of the whiny yet good-hearted kid from just a minute ago. The ape then took notice of Piccolo and fired a beam from its mouth straight at him. The beam would surely end Piccolo if it made contact and there was no way he would be able to dodge it in time.

By a stroke of luck, another giant beam came from the side and blasted Gohan's attack in another direction, sparing Piccolo's life. Before Piccolo could feel relief, he hearth a quaking, deep voice speak. "Looks like I finally found you." He turned to look and his eyes went wide with horror as he saw yet another giant ape, radiating an even greater power than Gohan. Though unlike Gohan, this great ape wasn't naked and was wearing the same armor that the saiyan chasing him was wearing.

Great ape Gohan looked at the other great ape and charged directly at the it, swinging a fist that was caught in the palm of the stronger ape, though the collision created a shockwave that was enough to push Piccolo back just a little bit. "Not bad runt, that actually kinda stung. This power befits you as that of a saiyan."

The great ape that Piccolo had finally deduced to be Raditz transformed locked hands with Gohan, not using his full force to test just how powerful the boy at his absolute maximum. Gohan roared and fired a beam directly into Raditz's face, making Piccolo think that he'd blown the saiyan's head clean off. Though when the dust clears, the saiyan doesn't seem overly damaged. "I can see it. In this state of uncontrollable fury, you're pushing out you full power, added with the multiplier that this form grants us. However," he let go of Gohan's hand and started charging up a beam in his hand, putting the practice over the past month to use as he blast Gohan square in the chest, knocking the child back and collapsing on his back. Raditz, slammed his foot on the child's chest and started laughing. "You'll never be able to compete against the trained power of a saiyan warrior!"

Piccolo was completely mortified. Not only did the blast from Gohan not even mortally injure the saiyan but had been completely overwhelmed in no time flat. _I have to do something,_ he thought. _If I don't do something now, my best weapon against the saiyan is going to die. But there's no way I can take on a monster like that. Think Piccolo, what can you do to weaken their power?_ He then came to a realization and looked straight up at the moon. _Of course. Gohan started acting strange after looking at the full moon, which means he transformed by looking at it as well. Which means.._ He charged up and energy blast and fired it directly at the moon, not taking long before it exploded, vanishing from the night sky. He then turned around and dropped to the ground to see what the result were.

His plan had worked to a degree. Destroying the moon had reverted both of them back from their great ape forms. Only problem now was that Raditz was still standing on top of Gohan and he was laughing even more. His press on the child loosened from when he was a great ape and he stared down the namekian. "Looks like I finally caught up to you. How about we sit down for a little chat?"

* * *

 **And that is it for this next installment of this story. I really wasn't planning on doing this chapter so soon but the positive feedback on this was quicker and more plentiful than any other story I had written. I apologize for the potential awkwardness of the chasing bits but I couldn't really plan it out much better and really just wanted to get it out of the way. And to answer the first comment for this story by Awareness Bringer: I do like your idea to bring in Launch for this story to heal Raditz, though there are 2 reasons for me not to bring her in. Firstly, as of this point in the story, she was still fallen for Tien, and judging from the filler during the Saiyan arc with her in it, it's assumed she was dumped recently, so I couldn't implement her. Secondly, it's been a while since I watched OG Dragon Ball so I don't have her character memorized to write her very well. Anyway, I'll leave this chapter here. Feel free to leave suggestions on how to improve this story and I just may implement them in. Tune in next time for the next exciting installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	3. The best hope of survival

Piccolo was too stricken with fear to have heard Raditz's words. He raises both of his hands above his head, preparing to fire a Masenko attack.

Raditz frowned as he saw the namekian preparing to fight back despite how useless it was. Raditz slid his foot under Gohan and kicked him straight up, grabbing his nephew by the tail. "Now now, you wouldn't want to hurt the little one now would you? I said I wanted to talk, now drop the hands."

Piccolo trembled a bit as the saiyan had ordered him. He lowered his arms and stared at the saiyan. _Strange, he could have killed both Gohan and myself by now. I'll listen to what he has to say._

Raditz took a seat on a rock, motioning to Piccolo to do the same. Once Piccolo sat down, Raditz tossed Gohan to him. "There, I've given you the kid. But if you try to run, I'll just follow you." He fires a weak energy blast between the 2 of them to create a warm fire.

Piccolo looks down at the unconscious Gohan in his hands. He then looks back up at Raditz. "Alright. You've gotten my attention. What exactly do you want? Last time, you said you'd kill me."

"Before I answer that question, there's something that's caught my attention." Raditz points at Piccolo's left arm. "I'm positive that i blasted that arm off in our fight, how is it there now?"

Piccolo briefly looked at his arm, then back to the saiyan. "I can regenerate my lost limbs if they're removed rather quickly, though it isn't exactly a painless process. And if you're asking a question like that, then I have one to add to my previous one. How did you get so powerful in such a short time? You were in no condition to train after our battle."

The saiyan simply smirked and crossed his arms. "It's a simple saiyan trait that truly comes in handy. When we recover from near death, we gain a permanent boost in our strength. It's a trait found in every saiyan, including that halfling brat of a nephew there."

Piccolo grit his teeth. Now he knew that even if Son Goku had survived, he'd have become much stronger than himself. Putting that sour thought to the side, he focused back to the main conversation. "Alright. Now again, why are you here talking to me rather than killing me?"

Raditz chuckles and stares the namekian down. "I want to help you of course. These past few weeks have given me some time to think, and I just feel terrible for what happened to my brother. I want to join you and help you get stronger."

Piccolo narrows his eyes. _Something about this doesn't make sense._ "What do you mean join me? If you're not my enemy, then there's no threat left."

"Remember those 2 saiyans that I told you and Kakarot about? The one's who are far more powerful than me? They're coming here." Raditz lost his smile, making a serious expression. "In Earth terms, they should arrive in 11 months from now."

Piccolo gasps in shock. He had completely forgotten about the other saiyans, and hearing this now made his his blood cold in fear. "So time is short. What exactly are you proposing that would raise our chances?"

Raditz's grin returned as he'd caught the namekian hook, line and sinker. _Perfect. Now I just need to make sure to learn their secrets and my plan will definitely go off without a hitch._ "I want you to train with me and teach me your earth ways of fighting."

Piccolo stood up and turned around as he weighed his options. _Let's see. He gains nothing from telling me the other saiyans are coming. Plus, training with someone that isn't just Gohan will help me get stronger. Though this could be a trap to let the other saiyans learn our techniques. Either way, I have to gamble._ He turns back around and stares the Saiyan in the eyes. "Fine. I'll agree to let you train with us. Though you're responsible for making the brat stronger. Probably be more beneficial to train with a saiyan than just me."

Raditz looked at Gohan and smiled. "Not a bad thought, green man." He coiled his tail around Gohan's tail and lifted his nephew from it. The shock woke Gohan up but with barely any energy to understand what's going on. "If he and I train, we can both overcome the weakness that our tails provide. In exchange for this, you teach us how to manipulate our energy like you and Kakarot did."

Piccolo simply nodded. After Raditz lets Gohan down, Piccolo fired a beam at Gohan. The beam didn't damage Gohan in any way, but rather covered the naked halfling in a gi very similar to Goku's. Raditz was astonished by this technique but didn't speak up about it. After Gohan sat up and rubbed his eyes, Piccolo stared both of them down and gave a slight grin. "Alright, we've got 11 months. From what I can tell, all of Goku's pals have been training already in preparation to fight you." He glances at Raditz before bringing his focus back to both of them. "Since we've been running for the past couple weeks, we've got a bit of catching up to do. Prepare yourselves. This next year is gonna be training hell."

Meanwhile, on Kami's lookout, Kami had been listening to all that Piccolo and Raditz had been talking about. He had been paying attention ever since Piccolo completely destroyed the moon, a detail that was impossible to miss. "Hmm, seems the earth is not in danger just yet. There is still time."

Mr. Popo walks up to Kami from behind. "I've managed to calm the fighters about what happened. I take it Piccolo isn't in any danger?"

Kami turned his head to Mr. Popo and smiled. "Thank you Mr. Popo. And yes, Piccolo and myself are safe for the time being." He turned back to look over the edge of the lookout. "Though an even greater threat approaches the planet, and we have less than a year to prepare ourselves for it."

Mr. Popo smiles and nods as he stands beside Kami. "So, I take it we'll keep training them at this accelerated pace? Are you sure it is a wise decision?"

Kami tightened his grip on his staff as he continued to focus on Piccolo. "While we have the luxury to go at a slower pace, it would be for the best if we keep going like this. Else Piccolo will be the only one capable of taking the saiyans."

Mr. Popo simply nodded and put an arm on Kami. "Come now. You should get some rest. We're going to have our hands full from now on." After a minute of silence, Kami turned around and went inside with Mr. Popo.

Four months had passed from that fateful night. Everyone had struggled at first to keeping up with the intense training, though adjusted within the first month. This held especially true for Piccolo, Gohan and Raditz.

Raditz and Gohan were repeatedly dealing blows to each other, though Raditz slowing himself down just a little to let his nephew keep up, all while keeping their tails interlocked. Meanwhile, Piccolo was meditating, focusing his energy to push it to its limits. Raditz landed a blow on Gohan and sent the child crashing against the ground, causing Piccolo to open his eyes.

Raditz wiped away just a little blood from his lip. Gohan had landed a lucky blow that dealt a surprising amount of damage, which caused Raditz anger to spurt out for a moment. He landed on the ground and walked over, helping Gohan up. "Not bad. You'd make a fine saiyan warrior in the old days. Now then, let's get onto our energy training."

Gohan smiled up at his uncle and nodded. The 2 of them had grown close in the past few months, so much so that the kidnapping back then was water under the bridge. As they walked over to Piccolo, a question popped into his mind and he didn't hesitate to ask it. "Mr. Raditz, what were the saiyan like back then?"

Raditz slowed to a stop when he heard the halfling as the question. This caught the attention of both Gohan and Piccolo. "You really want to know huh? I guess we can spare tonight's training. It may prove helpful to give a history lesson."

After taking a couple of minutes of gathering wild animals, fruits and branches, Gohan fired an energy blast at the wood to start a small fire that quickly grew. Piccolo moved some large rocks for the 3 of them to sit on. Raditz cooked the food and shared some with Gohan. He didn't bother asking the namekian since he'd just say that he didn't need it.

"Well, I guess I'll start from what I know as the beginning." Raditz took a bite out of some dinosaur meat and crossed his legs. "We brought our own planet to ruins, so we used our overwhelming might to wipe out the inhabitants of another planet and decided to move our entire species in. Our king took it upon himself to name our new home after himself. Thus, Planet Vegeta became the world of the saiyans."

Gohan dropped his half-eaten apple listening to just the introduction of Raditz's story. "But that's horrible! How could you do something so cruel?" Piccolo didn't comment considering his father would have done the same, and he would have as well had Raditz not shown up.

Raditz swatted the apple away with his tail, handing Gohan some roasted squirrel meat. "Saiyans don't exactly care about the well being of others. That's how we ended up employed to wipe out the inhabitants of other worlds so that they can be sold. Your father was meant to do the same, though a head injury made him the man he was. At least we were, till our race and planet were completely wiped out."

Before either of the listeners could comment on that, Raditz continued to speak. "Only those who were off planet survived the extinction of our race. The only ones lucky enough to avoid such a fate were me, Kakarot, and the other 2 saiyans. Though it looks like thanks to me, I simply reduced that number." He stared at the fire and remained quiet for a minute before looking up. "If you don't mind me asking, what was Kakarot like?"

Piccolo opened his mouth to speak about the matter, but Gohan jumped to his feet and started speaking first. "My daddy was the strongest guy in the whole world! He sometimes lost but he always came back and beat everyone he's fought. Even Mr. Piccolo!"

Raditz turned to Piccolo for confirmation, to which the namekian nodded begrudgingly. "Son Goku was the strongest fighter this world had ever known. Though he would more often than not use that strength to help others were that he'd befriended. After defeating me, he was given a life of peace to continue his training and live with his family."

Raditz took a moment to absorb all that info and couldn't help but smile. "So, that's the kind of life he grew up with huh? Quite luxurious for a saiyan's standards." Piccolo and Gohan looked at each other and were about to ask what he's referring to, but Raditz just explodes into laughter. "Shame he couldn't quite keep up! I would have enjoyed giving him a real fight. Too bad he isn't alive to help us."

Piccolo finally stood up and got a say in things. "Actually, you don't have to worry about that. He'll be alive and ready by the time the saiyans arrive." Raditz's eyes widened in surprise. Knowing what he was about to ask next, Piccolo decided to explain. "Here on earth, we have these items called dragon balls. When you bring all 7 of them together, they can grant you a single wish, including bringing someone back from the dead."

Raditz stood there in shock. Despite how he should feel about this, he felt somewhat relieved to hear this news. He was glad that he'd be able to have a rematch with Kakarot. Though he wasn't the only one who was happy to learn about the dragon balls.

Nappa and Vegeta had been listening in on Raditz's conversations every so often. They were fortunate to have been listening long enough to learn about the dragon balls. The 2 of them agreed that they would use the dragon balls to grant them immortality once they get to earth and deal with the namekian and his companions.

Several months more pass by and it feels like it's hardly been that long. Everyone was prepared and ready for this day. A day that would test the fate of the planet forever. The saiyans had finally arrived.

* * *

 **Phew, finally done with this one. This was a lot longer than I expected and I'm somewhat satisfied with the results. I know this one was purely exposition but it was necessary for progression. Trust me, some of these things are gonna be important later in the arc. I don't really have many words to say after all this. So I'll give you the proper sendoff. Let me know how you liked it and give me feedback on how I can improve upon this story. With that said, tune in next time for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	4. Game of Saibamen

Raditz and Piccolo stiffened up when they felt the energy of the saiyans landing on the planet. Gohan also looked worried, though he wasn't fully able to gauge the power of the saiyans like the more experienced fighters could.

Piccolo growls and clenched his fist. "I knew things weren't looking good when they used the dragon balls a month before the predicted time. Damn, I would have preferred to have a bit longer to prepare."

"Either way, this fight was unavoidable. Just stick to the plan and we might actually get out of this alive." Raditz picked up his scouter and stared at it. It had died out a couple of months ago so he couldn't use it to accurately gauge the strength of the saiyans compared to their own.

Almost an hour goes by without any thing happening other than all the animals running away as they sense the approaching danger. The 3 of them had being going over their secret plan the entire time to make sure none of them screw it up. All of them sensed that a strong power level had approached them, and Raditz fired a warning shot at the target, just barely missing. The unknown person landed and wiped some sweat off his bald head "Gee, some greeting you 2 have there."

Gohan widened his eyes as he recognized the person. He was the short person that dad had always talked about. "Hey! I know you! You were at Kame house, right"

"Yeah, glad you remember me. And the name's Krillin." He turned to look at both Piccolo and Raditz, both of which had almost ended up killing him on different occasions. "So, you're helping us fight the saiyans? Better than the other way around I guess."

Raditz smirked as he stared down the short earthling. "I'm surprised you made it out okay from that attack I dealt you a year ago." He took notice of how the earthling's outfit was exactly identical to Kakarot's. "Listen, if you're gonna fight with us, then you need to know about our plan. See-"

"There's no time for that! The saiyans are here." Piccolo interrupted. Everyone looked up at the sky and saw 2 figures in the air, both bolstering incredibly high power levels. The 2 saiyans landed and looked at the 4 warriors standing before them.

The shorter one was the one to speak up first. "So, have you been waiting long for us to arrive?"

Piccolo grunts as the saiyan is clearly looking down on them by making small talk while having their guard down. "That's right. Just so we're clear, why exactly are you here?"

Vegeta's eyes widen a little as he recognizes Piccolo's voice. "I see, so you were the one who was fighting alongside Kakarot against Raditz."

The larger saiyan turned his head to Vegeta. "Say Vegeta, isn't he a namekian?"

Vegeta took a momentary look to confirm what Nappa was asking. "Yes it is Nappa, it makes a bit more sense how he was able to overpower Raditz the way he did."

Everyone's eyes widened and looked towards Piccolo at this unexpected development. While Krillin and Gohan were asking Piccolo if he was really an alien and with Vegeta explaining what namekians were capable of, Raditz was taking a moment to argue with himself. _Damnit, how did I not realize it sooner? I was so busy training with them after my defeat that I never bothered to make the connection._ While he was being angry with himself, Vegeta had made the assumption that Piccolo was the one who made the dragon balls.

Krillin stepped back in shock, a rush of worry flowing over him. "Y-You know about the dragon balls?!"

Nappa clenched his fist while grinning. "Of course we do. We were originally here just to see what you earthlings were capable of, but we caught wind of the dragon balls while spying on Raditz's conversations a couple months ago."

The Earth inhabitants looked at Raditz who looked quite pale. _They were listening in on me? This is bad. What if they heard about the plan._ "How much have you heard besides that?"

Vegeta spoke up as Nappa was reading their power levels. "Nothing interesting other than the dragon balls. After a while we couldn't hear anything. We thought you'd caught onto us but I guess you were just dumb and just let it go till it died out."

Nappa chuckled as he finished reading their power levels. "Those are some sad looking power levels. Did you think you could beat us with strength like that? Raditz is the strongest of all of you and he's barely made any progress in the past year.

"Nappa, take off your scouter. These earthlings are capable of changing their power levels to suit the situation." Vegeta took off his scouter and put it aside. "They're garbage to us at this point."

"Good point, Vegeta. If we rely on these things, we could end up like Raditz and almost get ourselves killed."

Raditz grunted when he took the insult. As he saw Nappa about to put away his scouter, an idea popped into his head. "Hey Vegeta, you wouldn't mind if I took Nappa's scouter would you?"

Both the saiyans looked confused, so Vegeta was the one to ask. "Now why would I possibly do that? I told you if you got in the way, I'd end up killing you too."

Raditz smiled as he put up his facade. "I have no intentions of fighting you. I trained these earthlings so that they'd be a decent fight for you, give you a real reason to come all the way out there. Besides, you're the one who said they're garbage to you, where's the harm?"

Vegeta smirked, finding the weaker saiyan's explanation amusing. "I admit, you sure know how to make an argument, though this little favor isn't going to make me forgive you for your failure. You're still on your own." He turned to look at Nappa. "Do what he asks and give him your scouter."

Nappa knew better than to argue with Vegeta. While he did like the gesture of strengthening 2 of the fighters, he still didn't like how Vegeta was giving the outcast what he wants. "Fine, take it. Don't see much reason for you to use it though." He then tossed the scouter to Raditz, who caught it and put it on.

"Well, if you aren't gonna get in our way, then I guess we'll test what these earthlings are capable of." Vegeta crossed his arms as he turns his focus to Nappa again. "Say, how many saibamen do we have left?"

Nappa chuckled as he pulled out a vial with seeds in the top half and a liquid in the bottom half. "We got 6 of them. Should make things quite fun." He rams his index finger into the ground to make a hole, drops a seed into the hole, and covers the hole. He does this process 5 more times and them drops the liquid onto the 6 planted seeds.

The fighters were shocked to see green creatures sprout from the ground where the seeds were planted. Raditz though couldn't help but cackle as he used the scouter to measure their power level. The healthy soil of the Earth had let the saibamen grow healthy, each one of them exactly as strong as he was when he arrived on Earth.

Krillin took a fighting stance as he looked quite nervous. "This is gonna be harder than we thought."

Piccolo smirks as he also took his own fighting stance, to which Gohan copied the stance. "Maybe for you, but I could take them all on myself."

Raditz admired his namekian ally's enthusiasm, though knew that Piccolo would stick to their plan. He wished he could convey the plan to the earthling but with Nappa and Vegeta within earshot, there was no way they could. His scouter suddenly beeped as 2 more figures showed up, a large muscular man with 3 eyes and a small pale creature that he wasn't sure if it was an alien or not.

"Ahaha! Tien! And Chiaotzu! Boy am I glad to see you." Krillen's nervousness quickly went away as he saw his fellow fighters join them, increasing their numbers.

Raditz got another beep from his scouter as another earthling with long black hair and a scar showed up. He noticed this fighter was also wearing an orange gi similar to that of the short one and Kakarot.

"Sorry I'm late guys."

Krillen looked even more excited as yet another fighter shows up and increases their ranks. "Yamcha!"

Vegeta only looked amused as more earthlings showed up. "How adorable, they just keep coming."

Nappa let out a chuckle as he saw the fighters show up. "Probably have a death-wish."

Tien turned around to see Raditz just standing there behind the Z-warriors. "I was under the assumption that we'd be fighting with a saiyan against only 2 other saiyans."

"A lot happened and the situation's changed a bit." Krillin said as he returned to his fighting stance.

Vegeta beamed as he got an idea. "Say, I have an idea. There are 6 of you fighting us, the same number as saibamen. How about you take turns fighting them, 1-on-1 fights? We'll make it a game."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes and smiled at the suggestion. He turned his eyes to look at Raditz who simply gave a nod. "A game huh? Very well, just don't get upset if these matches take a while."

"Fine by me, I'll go first." Tien made his claim for the first fight as he walks in front of the other fights. He slammed his fists together to show how serious he was.

"Hehe, let's see if this guy's still confident one he sees one of our saibamen in action." said Nappa, who looked more excited than Vegeta.

Vegeta pointed to one of the saibamen. "You! You'll be the first to fight. Don't hold back."

The saibaman didn't even hesistate to launch itself towards Tien, aiming for the strike. Tien was prepared though as he shouted and thrust his hand forward, using his strength to knock the saibaman back. Tien didn't hold back as he rushed toward the saibaman.

Once the saibaman landed and stopped the momentum of being knocked back, its head split open and fired a stream of liquid straight at Tien and the other fighters behind him. Everyone moved out of the way and were shocked to see the liquid melt through the ground and create a hole in a straight line of where the stream landed.

Tien quickly moved and rushed towards the Saibaman, surprising Vegeta with his speed. Tien rammed his elbow into the side of the Saibaman's head, knocking it behind him, the saibaman collapsing. The Z-warriors were cheering for Tien while Nappa was in disbelief that one of the saibaman lost so easily.

Vegeta regained his smile as he watched this surprising development. "Looks like this will be more entertaining than we expected." He turned his eyes to see the saibaman struggling to get up.

"This is impossible, every single one of the saibaman have a power level of 1200. Kakarot and the namekian were supposed to be the strongest fighters on this planet and they struggled against that kind of power." Nappa clenched his fists as he was clearly getting frustrated.

"Use your head you buffoon." Vegeta said whilst not even looking away from everything. "That just means that they were more prepared for this fight than we thought." He looked back at the saibaman as it gets back up. He points his fingers at it and as if by command, the saibaman breaks apart and dies in a pile of broken body parts.

Everyone looked absolutely shocked at the saiyan prince's monstrous power, well everyone except Raditz, who was just watching in silence. Nappa turned to Vegeta in shock. "W-Why did you do that? That saibaman could still fight."

"That saibaman didn't listen to me and underestimated its opponent. It was a waste of space." Vegeta looked at the other saibamen with a stern look. "The rest of you, don't make the same mistake, otherwise you'll meet the same fate." He looked back at the earthlings and smiled again. "Alright, so which one of you is next?"

Krillin was about to step up, but Yamcha walked forward with a completely smug look. "I'll be your next opponent. I'll show you that this isn't a game anymore."

Krillin looked at Yamcha with concern. "It's okay Yamcha. I can fight this next-"

Yamcha turned to look at Krillin with a reassuring smile. "It's fine. Besides, you've already been brought back by the dragon before. If you die, then there's no bringing you back." He turns back towards the saiyans and saibamen. "Alright, come get me."

Vegeta simply looked on with amusement as Yamcha stepped forward. "Looks like somebody's gotten cocky."

"Show them what you saibamen are capable of!" Nappa ordered the saibaman that stepped forth to fight next.

There was a momentary silence before both Yamcha and the saibaman suddenly vanished. At least that's what it looked like to Gohan. "Ah, they disappeared!"

"Fool, they're clearly moving at high speeds. You're still inexperienced but you should be able to see the action. Just sense their energy." Piccolo instructed the saiyan halfling, turning back to the high speed fight.

Gohan nodded as he looked forward. He started to remember the training he did with Piccolo and Raditz, feeling out the energy of the 2 fighting, not taking long to lock onto them and see the fighting.

Yamcha and the saibaman were zooming around the place, delivering rapid blows to each other. None of the attacks were direct hits, so both fighters kept going. The saibaman leapt on top of a tall rock formation, to which Yamcha rushed quickly after. The saibaman left forward at Yamcha, ready to grab hold of him, though the earthling vanished midair and reappeared behind the saibaman. Yamcha brought his hands together and fired an energy blast at the saibaman, knocking it into the ground and presumably out of fighting condition.

Yamcha landed on the ground with his smug look plastered on his face. "Looks like your freaks of nature aren't as strong as you made them out to be. I think I'll take out the other 4 by myself."

Raditz grunted at the comment made by the earthling. _Don't even think about it. If you take them out as fast as that one, you'll completely screw up my plans._ He widened his eyes as he noticed the saibaman move slightly, knowing exactly what it was about to do.

"Hmph, I think it may be a little early for you to be celebrating." Vegeta chuckled as he also noticed the saibaman shuffle in the crater.

Before Yamcha could even respond to what Vegeta said, the saibaman leapt out of the crater and wrapped its arms around Yamcha, restricting his arms. Everyone got in a panic, especially as the saibaman started to glow. Just as Yamcha's life was flashing before his eyes, an energy blast come flying from behind the the Z-warriors, hitting the saibaman and knocking the creature off Yamcha with enough force to send it flying right before it exploded.

Everyone widened their eyes and turned to look at where the blast came from, seeing Raditz with his hand up from firing the blast himself.

Vegeta glared at Raditz as he uncrossed his arms. "What happened to staying out of our way? I guess you really do wanna die." He aimed his open palm at the rogue saiyan warrior.

Raditz simply started laughing at Vegeta's threat, putting up his facade to hide his fear. "Oh please, as if I would go picking a fight with you 2."

Nappa clenched his fists as he glared at his former ally with pure anger. "Oh yeah? Then why did you attack the saibaman and save the earthling?"

Raditz crossed his arms. "Because I was keeping some more entertainment for you. There's no way that sad excuse of an attack could kill someone I made ready to fight against the 2 of you personally. Besides, if you killed them right off the bat, then who'll be left to fight against you? Pretty boring to come to a planet and not get any action at all." _Okay, now just take the bait. This is all I could think of so if he doesn't take it, we're screwed._

Vegeta smiled at Raditz's words and crossed his arms again. "Very well, I'll let it go this time, but if you pull a stunt like that again, you won't get a second chance. You got it?"

Nappa turned to look at Vegeta with pure shock on his face. "Vegeta, you can't be serious! Are you actually giving that bastard what he wants again?!"

"Shut it, Nappa!" Vegeta ordered, immediately making the saiyan elite close his mouth. "Not another word on the matter, is that clear?"

Nappa just stayed silent as his superior had raised his voice in anger to him. He looked at Raditz and found the outcast looking so pleased with himself. Nappa became absolutely furious towards the saiyan, very tempted to rush him. He restrains himself though to avoid angering Vegeta again.

Chiaotzu stepped forth to fight next. Raditz sensed the energy of the strange looking earthling and felt that his power was weaker than a saibaman so he couldn't help but worry. _This could be trouble. I won't have another chance to save them so I just gotta hope he has some tricks up his sleeve._

One of the saibaman rushed forward without warning, bringing Chiaotzu to a panic. The short earthling raised his hands and the saibaman stopped midair, surprising all 3 of the saiyans. Chiaotzu aimed one of his fingers straight at the saibaman. "Dodon Ray!" A thin yellow beam fired from Chiaotzu's finger and blasted the saibaman back.

Chiaotzu ran and hid behind some large rocks. Once the saibaman recovered from the blast, it split its head open and fired the acidic liquid from its head straight towards the rock, melting though buthitting the earthling. The saibaman leapt onto the rock to look for the earthling but widened its eyes as its sees a large amount of its acid just floating in a ball. Chiaotzu swing his arms up from the spot he was hiding in and knocked the acid right in its face, melting the saibaman's head into a puddle and then nothing.

Krillin and Gohan were cheering for the crafty victory while the opposing saiyans were just surprised by the earthling's telekinesis. Raditz let out a sigh of relief. _Guess I was worried over nothing. I should have guessed that they had some tricks up their sleeves._

"Hmph, these earthlings grow more amusing by the second." said Vegeta, who nudged his head to tell one of the saibaman to get ready to fight.

Krillin stepped forward to get ready to fight next. "Alright, it's time for me to give it everything I've got."

This saibaman decided to open up with firing its acid at Krillin. When the fighter was forced to dodge, the saibaman launched itself straight for Krillen, aiming to end things quickly by self-destructing. Krillen smirked as he didn't seem to move though when the saibaman tried to grab him, it just went right through him.

Krillin appeared elsewhere on the battlefield, firing 2 energy blasts from each of his hands at the saibaman. The alien creature saw the attack coming and leapt high into the air to dodge the attack. Krillin didn't seem bothered as his attack seemed to curve back around and came out the saibaman from behind. The saibaman didn't notice the attack coming for it until it was too late, getting hit by the blast and getting completely obliterated.

"Gah! This is ridiculous! That's 4 saibamen that have lost and not a single one of them even look exhausted!" Nappa shouted, clearly frustrated from everything going wrong for him today.

"Relax Nappa." Vegeta said, his voice calmer than it was before. "The last 2 are the ones who fought Raditz. They'll undoubtedly kill the remaining saibamen, but we can at least see if they're worth the trip here."

Nappa only responded with a grunt. He'd feel a little more excited about this, though Raditz's interference earlier had left a bad taste in his mouth. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Piccolo cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward, looking at the saibaman that had opted to be his opponent. "Hmph, I'm gonna enjoy making you suffer." This made the saibaman look nervous and towards its fellow saibaman to switch out, the other one refusing to do so as it was also scared.

The saibaman just stayed there and stared at the namekian. It had seen that every tactic the earlier 4 saibamen had used had resulted in their death, so this time it would go on the defensive till an opportunity to self-destruct arose.

Piccolo smirked as the saibaman's cowardice played in favor to the plan.

The day before, Raditz had said that he'd come up with a plan to maximize survival. "Listen, the other saiyans are coming here to see what kind of fighters this planet has at its disposal. Their most likely tactic is to use saibamen, creatures that'll have around the same power I had when I first came to this planet."

Both Piccolo and Gohan nodded as they listened carefully to what Raditz is saying. "So, they're gonna try and waste our energy while also learning what we can do."

Raditz nodded and smiled. "This works in our favor though. The saibamen are undoubtedly going to be weaker than all of us. If we can drag out the fights with them as long as we can, we can give Kakarot enough time to arrive. Then we'll possibly have enough power to take both saiyans."

Piccolo smiled as he returns his thoughts to the present and looks at the saibaman. He threw a faint at the saibaman, to which fell for it and dodged. As it got ready to attack, Piccolo turned swung his other arm an knocked his opponent into a rock. He held back quite a bit so the saibaman didn't seem too damaged.

The saibaman took not to how the punch barely hurt and assumed that Piccolo was a lot weaker than expected, rushing forward and letting its guard down. This allowed Piccolo to dodge with ease and ram his elbow into the saibaman's back. It groaned as it got back up and leapt back, getting into a defensive stance and waited for Piccolo to make another move.

This fight lasted quite a while with the saibaman getting quite tired while Piccolo hadn't even broken a sweat. Vegeta tapped his finger on his arm as he and Nappa had grown bored.

"Alright, that's enough!" Vegeta shouted, causing both fighters to stop. "You've clearly made your point that you're stronger than it. You, get back here." He ordered the saibaman. The saibaman walked over to the other saibaman, which was ready to fight the kid who was up next. "Do it Nappa."

Nappa smirked as he swiped his arm sideways, causing a sudden explosion where the saibamen were standing, vaporizing both of them. "Ah, I really needed that."

Everyone was in a panic as they just saw the saiyans kill their allies, despite one of them haven't fought at all. Raditz especially looked worried. He hadn't taken into account that the saiyans would get impatient and kill the saibamen.

"T-They killed them! How could they do that?!" Gohan asked. His inexperience and young mindedness made him too naive that someone could be this cold-hearted.

"Guess this means we have no choice but to fight seriously." said Piccolo, getting into a stance along with everyone else.

"You don't mind if I take them all myself, do you Vegeta?" asked Nappa as he took a few steps forward.

"Do as you wish. Just stick to the deal and don't touch Raditz unless he gets in our way." Vegeta said as he watched his partner get ready.

Nappa looked a little disappointed by that order, though doesn't let it get to him as his immense energy starts to make the ground quake. "Alright. Get ready, because I don't plan to hold back!"

* * *

 **And with that, I am finally done with this chapter. I gotta tell ya, when you have to write saibamen so many times, you gain a hatred for them. I never expected this chapter to be so long and it would have been longer if I wasn't too lazy. I wanted to be as thorough with this chapter as possible while rushing to get to this chapter done with so I can get the real juice of the story. Hope you don't think less of me for it. Anyway, I'm sure you all probably have a couple of questions so feel free to ask me either in a review or though PM. Anyway, like always, feel free to tell me how you liked this chapter, how i can improve and what you would like to see. Tune in next time for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's tail.**


	5. Wrath of an Elite

Nappa continued to intimidate the fighters with his monstrous energy. It was almost enough to push the fighters back just by itself. "Here I come!"

Piccolo grit his teeth as he was shaking from the amount of power the saiyan was emitting, despite knowing what he should have expected from how Raditz described the saiyans while they were training. "Be careful!

Nappa rushed forward with great speed. His target was Tien and he swung full force towards the earthling's defensive stance. Piccolo managed to push the 3-eyed human out of the way just in time and took the blow instead. The namekian screamed in brutal pain as the blow had shattered several bones in his arm.

Tien looked with surprise as his former enemy had taken a blow that could very well have been fatal. He raised his arms to prepare for an attack but before he could get them up all the way, Nappa rushed behind them and delivered a powerful kick against his back, knocking both Tien and Piccolo away from the other fighters.

Krillin and Yamcha felt they couldn't just stand back and watch, so they started to rush for their allies. Nappa noticed this and swiped his hand around with 2 fingers extended. This produced a powerful explosive wave that stopped the 2 earthlings dead in their tracks and left them in awe as they saw the resulting crater.

"I-I can't believe it. All he did was wave his hand and he did this? I can't even see the bottom." Yamcha stammered, frozen in place as his fear wouldn't allow him to move.

While Nappa was feeling joy at witnessing the terror of the earthlings, Chiaotzu and Gohan had snuck around the saiyan's eyesight, getting behind him so Gohan could fire a Masenko. Nappa turned his head to see the incoming attack and smirked. "You think an attack like that would work on me?" He swung his arm to knock the attack away, though it stopped midair just outside of his reach, done by Chiaotzu's telekinesis. Nappa looked shocked by the attack's ability to stop and in that brief moment where his guard is down, Chiaotzu let go of the blast and it continued its momentum, hitting the saiyan square in the face.

Raditz smiled widely as he witnessed that. _That was incredible! You've really come a long way Gohan. I know for a fact that wouldn't have killed him but that had to have hurt._

As the smoke cleared from the blast, Nappa was rubbing his eyes, his face covered in scratches. "Damn it. Little bastards pulled one over on me. Guess now I'll just kill you first." He grit his teeth as his visioned cleared and saw his targets. He prepared a to fire a blast from his hand, though just when it was about to be fired, a ball made of energy came out of nowhere and slammed against the saiyan's hand, messing up his aim and rather than hitting the runts, he ended up vaporizing a bunch of rocks. When he looked to see where it came from, he saw the same energy ball floating above Yamcha's arm, the earthling still shaking in fear. "You! You're dead!"

Unbeknownst to the saiyan elite, Tien had recovered from the kick earlier. The triclops had flewn above Nappa and put his hands together to form a triangle between them.

Vegeta had been watching all of this unfold and decided to throw Nappa a bone. "Nappa, above you!" These words would cause the elite warrior to look up and see the fighter, though it was too late.

"Tri-Beam!" shouted the earthling, firing a heavy burst of energy from his hands, creating a perfectly shaped square crater that was quite deep. Despite the difference in power, the blast effectively pushed the saiyan deep into the crater.

Krillin saw this as an opening to try out one of his new attacks and turned to Yamcha. "Yamcha, do that attack again and buy me a little time!"

Yamcha nodded and tossed his Spirit Ball into the crater just as the saiyan was preparing to fly out of it. The attack smacked Nappa right on the head, angering the saiyan. Nappa swatted the ball deep into the side of the crater in his rage and prepared to fly out of the crater again. Yamcha swung his arms around to move the ball and make it tunnel through the ground and spring out of the ground right under the saiyan, slamming it against his jaw and knocking him on his back.

In the same time this was going on, Krillin had fired a rather large beam towards the crater. The beam moved quite slow, which is why he needed Yamcha to distract the saiyan and keep him in the hole. Once the beam was made it right to the center of the crater, Krillin swung his arms down, changing the direction of the beam.

Nappa looked up as the inside of the crater had gotten a heck of a lot brighter and saw the beam. He smirked at how easily avoidable the attack looked. Before he could make a move however, the beam broke apart into several large chunks of energy that crashed all over the crater. Many of the attacks landed on Nappa and those that didn't crashed against the side of the crater and caused the dirt and rock to collapse and crash down on the him.

Even Vegeta looked shocked to how well the earthlings were doing against his underling. _Could this be the results of Raditz telling them what to do? No, they look rather shocked that this is working, so they're making it up as they go._

The pile of rubble exploded outwards as the saiyan elite rose out of the pile, looking absolutely furious. "I'm done playing around! All of you can just go to hell!" He prepared his hand for the same attack that he used to wipe out the saibamen, putting everyone in shock, including Vegeta.

"Nappa, you idiot! Calm down!" Vegeta shouted in an ordering tone, though it wasn't enough to break through Nappa's fury.

The furious saiyan rose his hand, creating an explosive force across the entire battlefield, getting both Vegeta and Raditz mixed into the attack as well. After the smoke cleared, Nappa regained his senses and exhaled deeply. "Damn, I got carried away and used a lot more power than I meant to." He widened his eyes to see his attack hadn't killed a single person, though did majorly damage every one of the fighter's he was up against.

"I-Is everyone alright?!" cried out Krillin as the dust and smoke cleared, seeing if all his friends were still alive.

"Yeah, I'm fine, kind of." said Tien. "Chiaotzu, where are you?"

"O-Over here.." Chiaotzu shouted weakly, more hurt by the damage since he was the weakest of the bunch.

"Piccolo, what about you?" asked Krillin, as he saw Piccolo across the battlefield.

The namekian was groaning in pain, both from the pain of the blast and the fact that during everyone's assault on the saiyan, he had forcefully ripped off his broken arm and regrew it. "I'm fine. Just give me a few minutes."

Nappa was clenching his teeth in anger as his attack was apparently too wide-spread to wipe out these fighters. His spine suddenly shivered as he felt a cold gaze directed at him. He turned his head and saw Vegeta glaring at him, the saiyan prince covered in dust from the explosion.

"Done with your little temper tantrum?" asked Vegeta. He watched as his partner dropped down to the ground let out a heavy sigh. "Honestly, you're an embarrassment."

"I'm sorry Vegeta, these earthlings were just being annoying, like bugs constantly biting me." said Nappa, scratching the back of his head.

Raditz let out a sigh of relief as he saw everyone still alive. _I'm amazed they've lasted this long against Nappa. Unfortunately, his power hasn't dropped that much. Kakarot, where are you?_ His scouter suddenly started beeping, indicating a large rise in power nearby. He looked to see where it was coming from and his blood went cold.

Gohan was high in the air, charging another Masenko attack, though he was pouring all of his power into this attack. Since the saiyans couldn't sense power levels, they hadn't yet caught onto his plan. Before Raditz had the chance to tell his nephew to stop, the child unleashed the attack towards the 2 saiyans.

Vegeta saw the approaching attack, making Nappa realize it as well. Nappa swung his body around to block it with his hand. The blast created another smoke cloud, though everyone could already tell the saiyan survived. As Gohan lowered to the ground exhausted, the smoke started to thin out and reveal the saiyan, though he looked like he was in pain and his hand was twitching.

"D-Damn little punk. Tried to get the drop on me huh?" growled Nappa, aiming himself towards the brat. "Time to make an example out of you!" He threw his other arm in Gohan's direction, launching an incredibly large energy blast toward the halfling.

Gohan widened his eyes as the blast came rushing toward him, too weak on energy to dodge in time. Piccolo growled as he rushed forward and got in front of Gohan, preparing to sacrifice himself for his student. When the energy collided, there was a blinding light that kept everyone from seeing what happened.

As soon as everyone was able to see again, every fighter was stunned to see the results. As Gohan opened his eyes, he saw Piccolo just standing there, completely still. Piccolo was frozen in place out of shock from seeing the figure of the rogue saiyan Raditz standing there. The warrior had definitely been hit by the attack as his already damaged armor was almost completely gone, his entire torso explosed.

"Hehehe. How's that Nappa? I took one of your strongest blasts and yet I'm still standing." taunted Raditz, staring down his former superior, a small line of blood escaping from his lips.

"What's the meaning of this Raditz? I thought you said you had no intention of fighting us?" asked Vegeta, who was still surprised to see the coward Raditz voluntarily take a hit from Nappa. "Do I need to remind you that I told you to stay out of our way?"

"And who told you that you had any right to tell me what to do?!" shouted Raditz, who straightened up and grinned, energy starting to form over both of his hands. "You cast me out. That means I'm a free saiyan, allowed to do whatever I want!"

"Hmph, looks like somebody's gotten cocky while we were asleep. Forget what I said earlier Nappa. Go ahead and kill him." Vegeta smirked, ready to see the 2 saiyans fight.

"Heh, roger that Vegeta." Nappa started walking towards his former ally, stretching his fingers as his hand started to recover from that blast Gohan had dealt. "It'll be fun wiping out this low-class scum."

"It'll be even more fun seeing you try!" declared Raditz as he fired the energy from one of his hands at Nappa without hesitation.

Nappa tried to counter with a weak blast of his own, underestimating Raditz's strength. He soon found that to be a mistake as he saw Raditz's energy power through his own and hit him directly, knocking him backwards and onto his back. He quickly got up with a frustrated look. "What the hell was that?"

Raditz simply grinned as he held his other hand. The energy in that hand had grown even more than the other one. "What's the matter Nappa? Having a lazy day?" He then fired the other blast at Nappa again.

Nappa decided to dodge this one, not wanting to gauge its strength. The blast ended up hitting Vegeta instead, though he came out relatively unharmed, though his armor had gained a few scratches. Nappa gasped as it just dawned on him that he had just dodged an attack from Raditz of all people.

"Hmph, you look surprised Nappa. Lost your touch?" mocked Raditz, who was smiling confidently. This time, his smile was no facade. He was genuinely confident that he could keep up this fight. "Perhaps you should sit down for an hour or 2. Otherwise you'll just go into another tantrum. Wouldn't want to make a bad first impression when Kakarot gets here."

Nappa simply growled like a wild animal, veins visible on his head as he was becoming absolutely furious. _First he manipulates us into making things go his way. Next he makes me dodge on of his attacks when I should never have to. Now he dare mocks me?!_ "That's it! You're dead!"

"Hold it Nappa!" commanded Vegeta, causing the larger saiyan to stop before making a move. He then looked at Raditz. "What are you talking about?"

Raditz raised an eyebrow as Vegeta became curious. "Oh, I guess you don't know." He smirked as he realizes he can make use of this in many different ways. "How about this? You want information on the dragon balls right? Give us 3 hours to wait for Kakarot. Then I'll give you the information even if he doesn't show up yet."

Nappa nearly snapped hearing the rogue daring to make demands with someone who can kill all of them. "You dare ask for time?! Tell you what, you tell us the info now and we'll give you a swift death!"

"Hold on now. This could get interested." Vegeta informed his inferior, walking forward to be in front of Nappa. "Tell me, what reason do we have to wait for Kakarot?"

Raditz starts to laugh. "As if it wasn't obvious. You saw what I was able to do just now. Kakarot's bound to be at least stronger than the earthlings here. How about it? A chance to wipe out both of the low class saiyan scum at once?"

Vegeta looked down to consider his options. "Very well, though I'll only give you 2 hours. Take it or leave it."

Raditz nodded as he walked back towards where he was standing earlier and sat down on a rock, the Z-Warriors moving in the same direction. "They shouldn't be able to hear us at this distance if we keep our voices down."

"Okay, do mind telling us what the heck all that was about?" asked Krillin, wanting to know the answer everyone else was wanting to know as well.

"It was all part of a plan that we hatched about a month ago." Piccolo answered as he sat down and crossed his arms. "Thanks to him, we knew what they were likely to do, so we used it to our advantage to stall for time."

"You mean you planned all of this out just to give Goku time to get here?" Yamcha was still a bit in disbelief to all this.

"Well, there were a couple of hiccups to the plan, like you all killing the saibamen so quickly. Though the biggest one had to have been you, Gohan." He glared at his nephew, who flinched and backed up. "You fired off that blast too prematurely and now any chance for me to launch a surprise attack is gone."

Gohan dropped his head and stood at the ground, looking depressed now. "I-I'm sorry. They looked like their guards were down." He blinks in surprise as he felt a large hand put itself on his head and ruffle his hair.

"Though you did a fantastic job in the long run." Raditz smiled as he lifted his hand from his nephew's head. "That damage you did to his hand weakened what he can do with it." He then raises his head up to look at everyone else. "You all did a swell job too. Getting him worked up like that messed with his ability to think clearly. I can use that to get an advantage when i fight him."

"But do you really think you can beat him? Our attacks didn't look like they did all that much to him." Chiaotzu asked, quivering as he turned and looked at the brutish saiyan.

"Even if you can, there's still that other saiyan. Considering that monster has been cowering whenever he raises his voice, that means he's even more powerful." Tien looked at Vegeta with his third eye, looking quite nervous.

"That's why the plan is essential. I can probably take Nappa myself, though Kakarot is the one who has to deal with Vegeta." Raditz closed his eyes and hunched down.

"But can we be certain that Son Goku will be strong enough to take him on by himself?" asked Piccolo, who was stretching his arm now that he had the opportunity.

"Even if he isn't exactly as strong as Vegeta, if he's somewhere close, then all of you working together like you did against Nappa should close the gap pretty easily." Raditz looked at the earthings specifically. "Especially if there's something you're holding back."

Krillin laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. Tien simply looked away as he tended to Chiaotzu's injuries as best he could. Yamcha just looked a little disappointed as he had nothing new to bring to the table, having used his best technique to slow Nappa down.

Nappa tried to overhear what the fighters on the other side of the battlefield were saying, but couldn't get any closer without raising suspicion. "So why'd you do it Vegeta? Why are you giving them the time?"

"Simple. To make that fool Raditz regret every decision he made coming to this wretched rock." Vegeta walked over and sat on a rock and put his scouter back on. "Raditz seems to be putting some hope on Kakarot. I simply want to see that hope fade from his eyes as we kill Kakarot right in front of him."

"Ooh, I didn't realize you were going for that kind of approach. Well thought, Vegeta." Nappa grinned as he turned to look at Raditz, his blood boiling to crush the saiyan scum.

2 hours pass by, with Goku being nowhere to be seen or sensed. Vegeta stood up and took off his scouter. "Looks like Kakarot's a no show."

Nappa grumbled but smiled quickly, being armorless for some unknown reason. "Oh well, he did say he'd tell us about the dragon balls even if he showed up or not."

Before Nappa could even turn around, Raditz swooped in and landed a solid kick against Nappa's face, knocking the brute across the battlefield. "But I never did say when I'd tell you about them."

Vegeta just stood there as he watched his partner get knocked away. "A liar as always. One more and I may have to get involved."

Raditz glared at Vegeta and turned back to Nappa, who was getting back up. "Good to know. I plan to only tell the truth for the rest of the day."

Nappa growled and rushed at Raditz, throwing a punch against the lesser saiyan. Raditz just narrowly dodged it, charging energy into his hand. Nappa took notice of this and swung his arm downward, causing the ground to explode underneath them.

Raditz flew into the air, having braced himself for the attack, but his built up energy having faded when he went on the defense. He sensed Nappa get behind him but before he could do anything, Nappa slammed both his fists into Raditz's back, knocking him down towards the ground. Nappa then fired a powerful energy blast at the downed saiyan. Raditz got back up and flew out of the blast range of the attack. "Damn, this isn't a good start."

Nappa landed back on the ground, clenching his fist and grinning as he walks over to the other saiyan. "This is why you'll always be scum. You're all bark and no bite. You'll never compare to a saiyan elite like me." He opened his palm and fired another energy blast at Raditz.

Raditz flew into the air to dodge the blast, seeing Nappa quickly rush at him. He covered his hand in his energy and swiped his hand, creating a wall of energy to cloak himself. Nappa charged through the weak energy but was surprised to see Raditz wasn't behind it. Raditz then charged from behind where Nappa came from and fired a beam of energy at his opponent, who looked behind for a brief moment and took the attack directly to the face.

Nappa shouted in pain as he was temporarily blinded by the beam. Before his vision could return, he felt hands grab his ankle. Raditz then started swinging the saiyan around in circles before tossing him at the ground, digging the saiyan's upper body into the ground.

Raditz laughed his head off as he saw the brute pull himself out of the ground, the low class warrior covering both his hands in energy behind his back. "Now what were you saying about all bark and no bite?"

Nappa growled as he rubbed his eyes and stared up at his opponent. "How is this possible?! A year ago you could barely handle Kakarot and the namekian. How are you able to keep up with me, a saiyan elite?!"

"Because it has been a year since then you brainless ape!" Raditz fired 2 beams spiraling around each other as they made their way towards Nappa. Nappa barely managed to dodge it, though Raditz snuck up on him and grabbed onto the back of his head, slamming him face-first into the ground. "You spent an entire year sleeping inside of a sealed pod. I spent a year training myself for this very moment. Tell me, what do you think is the better use of time?"

Nappa grunted as he tried to pull himself back up. He unwrapped his tail from around his waist and slammed it against Raditz, knocking him upwards. Nappa turned around and grabbed Raditz's tail and grinned as Raditz looked in pain from his tail being grabbed. "Training or not, you're still completely weak!" He opened his mouth to fire a beam from his mouth, his most powerful attack.

Raditz started laughing as he slammed his fist against the elite's arm, then springing his tail against Nappa's jaw, knocking his head back and mouth shut. Nappa stumbled backwards as he got dizzy from the blow to his jaw. "My tail begs to differ. I did spend the time to train my tail so I wouldn't have to worry about you doing that."

The inhabitants of earth just stood there and watched as the 2 saiyans fought on near equal terms. Though they couldn't believe that the saiyan on their side was getting the upper hand. Krillin and Gohan started laughing with joy as they realized that they might actually win. Piccolo jolted as he sensed an incredible energy suddenly appear elsewhere on the planet from out of the blue. The other fighters quickly noticed as well.

"I can't believe it. That energy, there's no doubt about it. That's Goku!" shouted Yamcha, catching Raditz's attention.

"He's here? Then that means I should finish this up quickly." Raditz then turned Nappa and rushed at him. The brute locked hands with the lesser saiyan and the 2 ended up in a power struggle. "I hope you're ready to die Nappa, because Kakarot's on his way now!"

Vegeta narrowed his eyes as he got curious about whether or not Raditz was lying or not. He put on his scouter and widened his eyes as he noticed a power level coming their way, and it was quite large. "Nappa finish him now!"

Nappa grunted as he kept trying to push Raditz back, but can seem to make any kind of ground. "What do you think I'm trying to do? What's the big deal anyway, it's only Kakarot."

"Whether it's Kakarot or not, someone is coming this way, and they have a power level of over 5000!" shouted Vegeta, who looked somewhat worried.

"What?! 5000?! Are you sure your scouter is accurate?!" asked Nappa, who was becoming just as worried as Vegeta.

Raditz could only help but laugh as the saiyans began to worry about Kakarot's power. _5000 huh? To think you were weaker than me when we first met and yet you've exceeded me._ "I think I'll put an end to this little struggle!" He started surrounding his hands in energy once again, though it begins to crackle, starting to damage Nappa's hands.

Nappa grunts as starts to slowly slide back. "Gah, what the heck is this attack?!" His hands start to go red as they continue to take damage.

"Just a little something I came up with on the spot. Just for you my dear old friend." He growled and shouted as he pushed Nappa back, tossing the saiyan back as he continues the assault.

Nappa growled and broke one of his hands free and punched Raditz in the face, knocking the saiyan away. "Do you have any idea what level of punishment we'll do to you for striking down a saiyan elite?!"

"And do you not realize that doesn't mean anything anymore?!" Raditz said as he stood back up, wiping the blood off his cheek. "I've been keeping up with you this entire fight and you haven't been able to put me down. Being a saiyan elite means nothing anymore!"

Nappa growled as he was about to rush in, only to see someone ride in on a cloud. That person hopped off the cloud and stood there. It didn't take long for everyone to realize who this was. It was Goku!

All the Z-Warriors cheered as they run up to Goku. Goku turns to his friends and smiles. "You guys made it. I'm glad you're all still alive." He turns to look at Raditz and the other 2 saiyans. "So what exactly's going on? I thought they were all on the same side."

"A couple of things happen, and the saiyan that attacked us a year ago is now on our side." said Piccolo as he approached Goku. They had a momentary serious stare-down before looking back at the saiyans.

"Hehehe, take a good look you 2. Now that Kakarot's here, you're both going to die." said Raditz.

Vegeta closed his eyes and smiled. "And here I was starting to believe you'd keep your word." He opened his eyes and held out a single finger, firing a small energy beam straight at Raditz, piercing right through his chest.

Raditz's eyes widened as the beam penetrated his skin, causing the saiyan warrior to collapse. Everyone else's eyes widened as well as they saw the saiyan warrior collapse to the ground. Gohan looked mortified as he saw the uncle he'd just started to know was dying, his energy starting to fade. "Uncle Raditz!"

* * *

 **And that chapter is finished. Gotta say, this chapter was quite fun to write. Now, I was originally going to make this chapter a little longer by making Raditz say some inspirational words about Goku and compare him to how Bardock fought against Freeza's army, but I decided to take it out since I haven't given Raditz enough time to develop that much. Anyway, I apologize for making some of you way a but longer than usual. I was a bit busy with things and had 2 days of feeling a bit under the weather. Plus this chapter was the longest so far. Anyway, let me know what you thought about this chapter, what I could have done better, what you'd like to see next and other personal opinions. Tune in next time on Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	6. Final Showdown against the Saiyans

Raditz coughed up blood as he lay there on the ground. Everyone was frozen as they watched their ally dying before them. Gohan tried running over to help his uncle, but Vegeta fired a warning shot to stop Gohan dead in his tracks. "If any of you attempt to approach him, you'll meet the same fate."

Nappa chuckled as he walked up to the dying saiyan, raising his foot up and staring him down. "Looks like after everything's said and done, you're nothing but talk after all." He slams his foot down toward's Raditz's head.

Gohan averted his eyes, but he didn't hear anything but a slam against the ground. He looked to see Raditz wasn't under Nappa's foot anymore, but in Goku's arms.

Everyone looked shocked at Goku's new speed, including Vegeta. _What? How did he move quick enough to grab Raditz and move away in time? Just how strong did Kakarot get?_

Raditz opened his eyes and looked at his younger brother, smiling as a streak of blood escaped his mouth. "K-Kakarot, is that you?"

Goku nodded, setting down his older brother and reaching to grab the senzu bean Korin gave him on his way. "Yeah, it's me. Here, eat this. You'll be healed." He pulled the bean out and started bringing it towards Raditz's mouth.

Raditz mustered whatever strength he had left to smack away Goku's hand, knocking the bean out of his hand. "Don't be a fool Kakarot. You need to save that for yourself." He started coughing up more blood and turned turned his head to look directly at Kakarot. "I don't have any right to fight on behalf of this planet. I only fought to buy you time and to get some things off my chest." His eyes started to droop, his consciousness starting to fade.

Goku looked worried and tried to reach for the senzu bean that was knocked out of his hand. "You're wrong, you have every right. You fought to protect my friends and my son, your nephew. You can start over!" He grabbed the bean but felt Raditz's weak grip grab his shirt, causing him to look back at his brother.

Raditz looked at Goku with a smile, tears escaping from his eyes. "You're too soft, just like mother. But.. You look just.. like father.." He then closed his eyes and let go of Goku. His energy was gone, the saiyan was dead.

As everyone tried to grieve for their fallen comrade, Nappa started laughing. "What a pathetic excuse for a saiyan! Crying in his final moments! I couldn't think of a more fitting end for such a weak and cowardly saiyan."

Goku balled his hand into a fist and stood back up. He turned his head to Nappa and looked furious. "You bastards.." He clenched his teeth as his power began to rise, causing Vegeta's scouter to go off. "I'm not gonna forgive you for this!" The rubble around the battlefield began to rise as Goku shouted in anger. It dropped back down after he calmed down.

Nappa turned around to look at Vegeta. "Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?!"

Vegeta pulled off the scouter and grit his teeth. "It's over 8000!" He then crushed the scouter in his frustration.

"What?! 8000?! You've got to be kidding, there's no way that's right!" shouted Nappa.

Goku glared down the saiyan elite as he just stood there. "With the damage you've sustained, I doubt I'll even need to use the Kaio-Ken."

Vegeta perked up in confusion. "Kaio-Ken?"

Nappa grit his teeth and lunged himself at Goku. "As if the brother of a weakling could defeat the great Nappa!"

Goku dodged Nappa faster than the saiyan could track, then kicking him away from Raditz's body. "Guess you're not as big of a threat as Raditz hyped you up to be."

Nappa widened his eyes as he heard Goku's words. It then donned on him that this scenario was far too familiar. This is the same scenario that happened to Raditz. He overestimated himself against his opponent, didn't manage to kill a single fighter, and the one kill that did happen was from somebody else. This realization put a mix of terror and rage in Nappa, causing him to use his most powerful technique against Goku with everything he had, in the same direction as Raditz's body.

Goku realized he couldn't afford to dodge this one, so he quickly charged a beam attack and shot it at Nappa's attack, overpowering it and colliding with the saiyan, knocking him to the ground. After Nappa couldn't bring himself back up, Goku kicked the saiyan over to Vegeta. "Looks like your friend won't be getting back up. Leave the Earth now and get him some help."

Nappa looked up at his partner, slowly raising his arm up. "H-Help me Vegeta."

Vegeta stared down at his broken ally as he was thinking. _Pathetic. I should just kill him right now. Then again, both Raditz and Kakarot brought themselves from being utterly weak to being on par and even above Nappa. Perhaps they know some potential of saiyans that we don't._ "Very well. Go get healed and wait for me. We'll be going to Namek to ravage them and their dragon balls after I'm done killing all these weaklings."

Piccolo's ears twitched as he overheard Vegeta's plans. Vegeta pulled out a remote and pressed a few buttons. Less than a minute later, the pod Nappa came in and landed near them. Vegeta tossed Nappa into the pod, shut the hatch and watched as it flew off into space.

While that was happening, Goku walked over to his friends with Raditz's body. "I'll lead him away from here. Would you mind taking care of Raditz and heading to Kame House?"

"Are you crazy?! You can't expect to fight that monster alone. Let us fight too!" pleaded Yamcha, who was shaking despite his bold words.

"No, he's right. If we stay here, we'll only be in the way. And if a certain 3 of us die, then you know the repercussions." explained Piccolo, referring to himself, Krillin and Chiaotzu.

Gohan and Krillin grabbed onto Raditz's body and started flying away with everyone else. Goku then turned around to face Vegeta.

Vegeta looked up as all the earthlings other than Goku started running away. "You do know they'll never be safe wherever they run to."

Goku just stared down the saiyan prince. "You wouldn't mind if we moved this elsewhere would you?"

"Hmph, suit yourself. Wherever is fine by me." Vegeta said as he started flying up from the ground along with Goku, the 2 of them then flying in another direction from the escaping fighters.

Meanwhile, Piccolo landed on the ground out of the blue, making the others land with him. Tien looked at him with confusion. "What's the matter? You're not having second thoughts are you?"

Piccolo nodded his head as he held out his hand and opened it to show a senzu bean.

Everyone stiffened up in surprise as they saw the senzu bean that should have been with Goku. "Why do you have that? Are you secretly working for the saiyans?!" asked Yamcha worriedly.

"Of course not, insolent fool!" yelled Piccolo, causing Yamcha to back off in fear. "In a silent exchange, Son Goku handed it to me to ensure that me and Kami survive. But I don't plan to go too far, since I have a feeling it would much more beneficial for Son Goku."

Krillin grit his teeth as he couldn't help but feel Piccolo's plan is much better than what Goku suggested. He set Raditz down and walked up to Piccolo. "If you're going, then so am I."

Tien looked at Chiaotzu and nodded. "If this is how it's happening, then I'm staying behind too. Chiaotzu, take the saiyan's body to Kame House."

"Then I guess I'll go with him." said Yamcha. "He's already seen everything I can do. I won't have anything to contribute."

"Then I'm going too." demanded Gohan. "I owe it to uncle Raditz. Besides, I can't just sit back and let my daddy fight by himself!"

"Alright then. You 2, take the body to Kame House. The rest of us will wait here for when Goku needs us." declared Piccolo, everyone nodded in response.

Yamcha and Chiaotzu, picked up Raditz's body and started flying off towards Kame House as the rest of them just sat there and waited. They were getting quite nervous as Goku's power kept spiking to new heights several times during the fight.

They then felt an incredible amount of power and saw off in the distance 2 massive streams of light colliding with each other, one of them undoubtedly Goku's Kamehameha. The tension was unbearable as it looked like the struggle would never end, until Goku's power spiked once more and the blue beam overpowered the saiyan prince's beam.

They felt they could relax as they thought they understood Goku had plenty of power to overpower Vegeta, unaware the strain he had put on his body. Krillin was looking off towards the battlefield as he noticed the sky had gotten a lot brighter as a giant ball of light had appeared in the sky, and then became worried as he felt the saiyan prince's power begin to rise astronomically.

"That strength, how is it possible to get that strong?!" questioned Tien as he felt every muscle in his body tremble.

Piccolo was measuring just how strong Vegeta had become and knew something was all too familiar about this situation. Vegeta's strength had multiplied as much as Raditz and Gohan's power did the night they became Great Apes. "This is bad, that monster's become an even greater monster."

They all turned to look at Piccolo, rather confused. Then it donned on Krillin what he could be talking about. "You mean that saiyan's become a giant ape right?" After getting a nod of confirmation, Krillin turned around to face where the fight was picking up where it left off. "Then we have to cut off his tail, otherwise Goku's going to die!"

Gohan decided to rush in before they had made an official decision, forcing the others to chase after. As they came into view of the fight, they saw Goku on the ground, under the foot of an indeed Great Ape Vegeta. Goku fired a blast against they eye of the saiyan, causing him to scream in pain.

"Gah! My eye! How dare you scar me like this Kakarot!" He reached down to grab Goku but a Masenko attack ended up hitting his wrist. He turned his head to look at the saiyan halfling. "Well well, if it isn't Kakarot's half-breed son. Come to see your father take his final breath?"

Behind Vegeta, Krillin raised his hand up to the sky. _This is a good a time as any to finally pull out this move._ "Destructo Disc!" A solid disc of energy formed above Krillin's hand. He didn't hesistate to throw it directly towards the saiyan's tail.

Vegeta smirked and leapt up into the air to dodge the disc, which ended up cutting through the terrain where Gohan was standing. The moment he jumped, Piccolo flew low to the ground and grabbed Goku, pulling him out of the way and out of sight. "Did you really think I would believe you would come to face me alone? I already know you earthlings are full of cheap tricks and will use them when I least expect it."

Piccolo pulled out the senzu bean and fed it to Goku. Upon quickly digesting the bean, Goku took a deep breath as all his wounds and broken bones were healed. "There, now we have a chance at beating that monster even in that form."

Goku got back to his feet and glared at Piccolo. "You weren't supposed to give me the senzu bean!"

"There was no other choice. If you died, we'd stand no chance against him, even if we succeed in cutting off his tail!" shouted Piccolo.

Vegeta turned and smashed his hand through the rocky terrain, his hand slamming both Piccolo and Goku away. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice you moved Kakarot? I may be blind in my right eye, but I'm certainly not deaf!"

Tien had been hiding behind a rock and focussing his energy the entire time. He created 3 copies of himself, though now all 4 Tiens have only 25% of Tien's full strength. "Alright, now I just have to wait for the signal."

Goku grit his teeth and went 3x Kaio-Ken. Thanks to the saiyan boost he got after eating the senzu bean, his body was able to withstand this level of Kaio-Ken. He tried to fly behind Vegeta, but the saiyan prince caught onto it and fired a beam from his mouth, colliding with Goku and knocking him into a mountain.

Gohan fired yet another Masenko at Vegeta, but it didn't phase the giant ape. Tien then flew in front of Vegeta as he turned around to face Gohan, making the pose for the Solar Flare.

Vegeta widened his still good eye and quickly shielded his eye, turning around. "Fool, Kakarot already used that trick on me once. It won't work twice!" As he uncovered his eye, he saw Tien doing the same pose in front of him. He turned to the side and saw Tien there as well. Tien was also behind Vegeta now, surrounding him.

"Solar flare!" shouted all 4 Tiens, creating a blinding light around the saiyan prince. The light amplified off each of the Tiens and blinded Vegeta longer than a Solar Flare normally would.

Piccolo took this chance and started to grow, larger and larger until he was roughly half the size of the Great Ape. He then stretched out his arms and grabbed onto the saiyan's tail, yanking it back to straighten it out. "Do it Krillin!"

Vegeta grit his teeth as he understood what they were planning to do. He tried to leap away but Piccolo kept a tight grip on the tail, keeping it straight even as he was being smashed against the plethora of rocks in the area.

Krillin stood at a high vantage point as he raised his hand to the sky. "I only have 1 more shot at this. I can't let it go to waste! Destructo Disc!" He formed the spinning blade of energy and tossed it at the saiyan's tail, successfully landing the attack and cutting right through the tail, severing it.

Vegeta shouted loudly in pain as he started to shrink and turn back to his original size. Once back to his original form, he screamed in anger and fired energy blasts at the 4 Tiens in the sky, knocking them all down and knocking them out. "You have angered me for the last time! You will all die here, by my hand!"

Piccolo grunted as he rushed in, shrinking down to his original size and throwing a punch at Vegeta from behind, only for the prince to dodge and slam his elbow against the namekian's head, his body slamming into the ground unconscious.

Krillin and Gohan looked at each other with frightened faces and nodded as they rushed at Vegeta together, attacking repeatedly but also being struck back.

"The 2 of you have been incredible thorns in my side, the son of Kakarot especially!" He fired his energy against the 2 of them and knocked them back, crashing into a wall and falling to the ground. He walked over to Gohan and saw the brat's tail, slamming his foot down on it and severing it with the force. "Hold on, where is Kakarot?!"

During all that, Goku had been high in the sky, both his hands raised to the sky to gather strength. Once his hand was covered in a bright blue glow, he formed a large ball of blue energy, tossing straight down at Vegeta.

Vegeta noticed things were getting incredibly bright and looked up, seeing the attack known as the Spirit Bomb hurtling right at him. Before he had time to respond, the blast crashed into him, creating an explosion of light around him. After the light faded, Vegeta collapsed against the ground, panting frantically as he was barely alive at this point. He saw Goku land next to him and grit his teeth. "So, are you going to finish me or just stare?"

Goku walked past Vegeta and picked up both Krillin and Gohan. Gohan had fallen unconscious from the pain of having his tail cut off while Krillin was hanging in there. "Get out of here. Call your ship and leave this planet."

Both Vegeta and Krillin looked shocked at Goku's words. "But Goku! He killed your brother! Aren't you furious?"

"Of course I am, but we can just bring Raditz back in a year after the dragon balls recharge." He turned his head to look at the saiyan prince, who was already using the remote to call his ship, albeit slowly on account of his mangled body. "Besides, I want to fight the saiyans again one day and beat them on my own."

As Vegeta's pod landed and opened up, the prince struggled to crawl inside and sit back. "You are a fool Kakarot. The next time we meet, there will be nobody capable of saving you. I'll kill you and this entire planet."

The pod closed shut and shot up to space, taking the saiyan away with it. Goku smiled as he collapsed, leaning back against a rock and staring up at the sky. "And next time we meet, I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

* * *

 **And that is it for this chapter. Honestly, I'm surprised it isn't longer than it is. I had quite a bit of fun with this one and am a bit bummed out I didn't have more to work with. For all those who are probably upset, I'm sorry I didn't include Yajirobe or Great Ape Gohan in this chapter. I just don't have much interest including Yajirobe when I have the rest of the cast readily available to step in. As for Great Ape Gohan, while it is a convenient plot point in the canon story, I figured a fully powered Spirit Bomb would be more satisfying than a weak spirit bomb and then a Great Ape. The next couple of chapters are probably going to be shorter as they're gonna be mostly exposition and story progression with no real action to spread them out. But considering it's gonna be the Namek saga next, I'd say the amount of chapters coming up could be read in about 5 minutes, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I've blathered on long enough. Feel free to leave a review telling me how you liked this chapter, what I could do to improve, what you'd like to see happen or any other general thoughts. That's all for now. Tune in next time for the next exciting installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	7. Kami's Plea! A warrior's second chance

Roughly 10 minutes since Vegeta left the planet, Goku sensed the energies of Bulma, Master Roshi, Chi-Chi and Korin, all coming towards his direction. He turned his head to look in the direction of where they were coming from and saw a ship undoubtedly owned by Bulma.

The moment the ship landed and the hatch of the ship opened, Chi-Chi leapt out of the ship and sprinted straight for Gohan. "Gohan! Gohan, are you okay? Please wake up, Gohan!"

The other 3 on the ship got out of the ship and went straight for Goku. "Are you okay Goku? You look pretty banged up." asked Bulma, noticing Krillin resting nearby, as well as Tien and Piccolo unconscious further away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just took a rough hit after being healed." said Goku. He moved his hand to his chest where his ribs were pretty damaged. "If I wasn't using Kaio-Ken during then, I'd probably be worse off."

"Sadly, both the saiyans ended up escaping with their lives." Krillin looked down in shame as he wasn't able to keep the peace long lasting on Earth.

"You shouldn't feel bad about it. Scaring them off is quite the impressive feat." said Korin as he walked over to Piccolo. _You've sure changed. Hopefully this change is long-term._

Master Roshi patted Krillin on the shoulder gently, seeing how beaten up his former student is. "He's right you know. Surviving the saiyans with all your lives is amazing."

Both Goku and Krillin stiffened up and their expressions changed to look even more down. "Not all of us survived. Raditz didn't quite make it."

"Raditz? Wait, you don't mean that saiyan from a year ago do you?!" asked Bulma, looking a little freaked that he was still alive the entire time.

"Yeah. I don't know the specifics, but he protected us. It's thanks to him that we survived against the other saiyan." explained Krillin. He brought himself to his feet and walked over to Tien. "We should get going. We may be alive but we're still pretty banged up."

Korin started walking to the ship. "He's right. We don't have anymore senzu beans, so we should get everyone to the hospital."

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Everyone turned to look at who was yelling, only to see Yajirobe. "Oh, I completely forgot he was out here." said Korin.

"We don't have time for this. Grab Piccolo and get on the ship." demanded Bulma, who climbed into the ship after Korin.

After everyone loaded up onto the ship, they started making their way to the nearest town. Roshi noticed Goku still looking down. "What's the matter Goku? Sad that your beautiful wife is paying more attention to your kid than you?"

Goku shakes his head. "No, I'm just disappointed about something else."

"What could you possibly be disappointed about? You stopped the saiyans and can take them on yourself now." said Yajirobe, not quite understanding the situation.

"I'm disappointed because my brother died." Goku groaned as the pain from his wounds finally caught up to him.

"You're brother? Isn't he the reason you died and caused that monster Piccolo to kidnap our baby boy?" asked Chi-Chi.

"I mean, can you blame me? He was pretty strong. Just seems like a waste to let a guy like that just stay in Hell." explained Goku, now staring at the ceiling of the ship.

"Well, don't worry about it Goku. We'll use the dragon balls to bring him back to life if it upsets you that much." said Bulma, who was flying the ship.

"You'll never make in time." Everyone turned their head to the back to see Piccolo had woken up. "The dragon balls were used only a few days ago. They cant bring someone back if they've been dead for over a year. I was worried you'd cut it close with Son Goku."

"Wait, so you're saying that once the dragon balls are active, we only have 2 days to find them?" asked Roshi, sweat forming from his forehead.

Krillin stood up after hearing all this. "Actually, I might have an idea." Everyone's attention went straight to Krillin. "Piccolo, you remember what they called you right?"

Piccolo looked a little uncomfortable and nodded. "Yes, they called me an alien. Something called a namekian."

"Right. Vegeta said that the namekians had high power levels but that they could also use mysterious abilities like create wish granting orbs." continued Krillin with his explanation.

Everyone looked stunned at this new information. During the commotion, Gohan had woken up and was briefly told about what was going on and why he was on a ship.

Piccolo smiled as the earthling had a solid plan, but frowned as he remembered something. I hate to be the barer of bad news, but before the weaker saiyan left, the one called Vegeta said that they'd head to Namek to get their dragon balls after dealing with us."

"Then we have to go there quickly and use them before they have the chance!" shouted Gohan. Chi-Chi tried to hold her son still but the boy was too energetic. Piccolo smiled as he saw the boy had gained quite the spirit from training with Raditz.

"Sorry guys, but I don't think it's gonna be that easy." said Bulma. "We don't even know where this planet Namek is. Unless you know something Piccolo."

Everyone turned their heads towards Piccolo who simply grunted and looked away. "Sorry but I can't help you. The being Kami and my father were have no memory of anything outside of out lives on Earth."

"Guess I'll just have to ask King Kai." said Goku, getting some confused stares from the others. "Hey, King Kai! Did you get all that?"

There was a brief pause of silence before everyone in the ship heard a voice in their heads. "Of course I know where Namek is. They don't call me a kai for nothing."

"Incredible, we all hear him. So this is the power of King Kai." said a surprised Roshi.

"We all hear you King Kai. Go ahead." said Goku.

"First of all, allow me to congratulate you on your victory. I was certain you were finished after all those hits from the saiyan after he transformed." said King Kai, secretly proud that his techniques really paid off.

"Yeah, I would have been a goner if everyone hadn't shown up and gave me that senzu bean. Heck, I probably wouldn't have been able to throw the spirit bomb if I hadn't used the Kaio-Ken when he hit me after the senzu bean." Goku chuckled before groaning in pain.

"I highly underestimated the saiyans' power. It's a real miracle you're all in one piece." said King Kai, as he grabbed a book to look for the location of Namek.

"Ah, speaking of which, what happened to Yamcha and Chiaotzu?" asked Bulma, only now noticing that those 2 are missing.

"I told them all to take Raditz's body and get to Kame House. They must have actually went." Goku explained.

Meanwhile at Kame House, Yamcha and Chiaotzu were bandaging each other's wounds. Despite it not doing much good, they bandaged up Raditz's chest wound as well. Since the 2 of them had never spent much time together before, there had been little to no talking since they split from the others.

Yamcha decided to break the ice by speaking first. "So, what do you think happened out there? The saiyan left the planet but everyone's still alive."

Chiaotzu winced as Yamcha had wrapped his arm a little too tight in bandages. "I don't know, but I'm worried about Tien. I sensed he used the multiform technique, so if he got hit, it would hurt a lot."

"Yeah, but if I know Tien, he's a tough guy. I'm sure he'll make it." Yamcha noticed he tightened the bandages too tight and loosened them up.

As the silence returned, Kami suddenly appeared inside Kame House in an instant, surprising the 2 martial artists.

"Kami?! What are you-" Yamcha was cut off when Kami raised his hand and walked over to Raditz's body.

He kneeled down and put his hand on the corpse, inspecting it. "Hmm, you 2 did me a favor and kept the wound from worsening. I'll take care of this. You should go to your friends."

"But what are you gonna do to him?" asked Chiaotzu.

"You shouldn't worry about that right now. Your friends have something important to catch you up on. Plus, it would be good to have a doctor take a look at your wounds."

As fast as he was to show up, Kami completely vanished along with Raditz, leaving the 2 fighters utterly shocked at Kami's speed.

Kami reappeared back on the lookout, nearly collapsing the moment he returned to his home. Mr. Popo rushed up and helped support Kami.

"You really must be more careful, Lord Kami." said Mr. Popo as he lets go of Kami. "Moving instantaneously 4 times in a day is not healthy for someone of your age. Especially with the stress you've been put through."

"Thank you, Mr. Popo. I suppose you're right." Kami grasped firmly to his staff as he started to walk to the inside of the lookout. "I shall rest for a short while. Can I trust you to properly heal the body?"

"Of course. I'll make sure it's in 100% condition by the time you're done resting." Mr. Popo knelt down and picked the body up. He was about to walk away but Kami spoke up again.

"Actually, I have another favor to ask of you Mr. Popo. Something that could prove important and useful to Goku and his allies." said Kami as he turned around.

Mr. Popo also turned around, smiling as he almost always done. "What is it?"

Kami couldn't help but smile as well as he turned his head to look in a specific location. "Do you recall when I told you about my childhood long ago?"

A day later, all the Z-Warriors were sitting in a room inside a hospital in West City. Yamcha and Chiaotzu had arrived the day before after Kami left. The 2 of them were caught up on the plan to revive Raditz and everyone else was told about Kami taking Raditz's body. Piccolo wasn't present though as he had chosen to leave the day before. He wasn't far however, only sitting atop the hospital roof meditating and letting his wounds recover.

"They said I'll be in here for about a month." said Goku, as he had a cast on his right arm and bandages all around his chest. "It should be shorter but they insisted that I stay here."

"Well that's gotta bite, all of us were told we'd be out in 3 days. Well, except Tien." said Yamcha. Him and Chiaotzu were admitted into the hospital by request of Bulma, and the 2 of them had no reason to argue.

"Yeah, I'll be in here for about a whole week. And even then, I'll still be in pain." said Tien as his torso was wrapped around his chest and stomach from the hits he took during the multiform technique.

"Well in any case, I'm proud of all of you. You did well to protect the planet." said the Ox King, who was only there to pay for Goku and Gohan's medical bill but decided to stay.

"But who knows how long that'll last." said Korin, who never really left. "If you all remember, we don't have a way to get to Namek. That means we can't stop the saiyans from using their dragon balls. And after they do that, where do you think their sights will be?"

"Ah, what about Raditz's ship? He had to have gotten to this planet in one right?" asked Roshi.

Bulma shook her head as she looked down. "I wish we could, but if you remember, the top half was completely smashed up when we got to Goku."

"Well perhaps I could be of assistance."

Bulma screamed in surprise as a voice spoke directly behind her. Everyone looked to see Mr. Popo standing right outside the window.

Krillin ran up to the window with a wide smile on his face. "Mr. Popo! What're you doing here?"

"One of you, come with me." demanded Mr. Popo, his smile ever so present. "I may have found a spaceship for you to use."

"Really? You found us a spaceship?" asked Krillin, with Bulma standing directly behind him.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, that's why one of you must come with me." said Mr. Popo.

Krillin turned around at astonishing speeds. "Bulma!"

Bulma jumped back in surprise and bumped into the Ox King. "What?! Why me?!"

"Well, you're the one who'd know best if what he's talking about is a spaceship." Most of everyone in the room nodded in agreement to the idea. Though one was certainly against it.

"Hold on now!" shouted Yamcha as he stood up. "What if there's something dangerous out there? We can't just let Bulma go alone!"

"You don't have to worry about Bulma. She's going with Mr. Popo." said Goku. "He may not be the strongest, but he did train all of us. He's plenty strong enough to protect her."

Yamcha opened his mouth to retort, but Tien placed his arm on Yamcha's shoulder and shook his head. Yamcha drooped his head and nodded as he understood.

Bulma climbed out of the hospital window and onto the magic carpet that Mr. Popo was standing on the whole time. "Be careful. I'm more delicate than they are."

"All right, we're off." Mr. Popo and Bulma immediately vanished, the others unable to sense their energy anymore.

The both of them reappeared in a new location. The first response Bulma had was to shiver as it was freezing cold.

"Where the heck are we? And why is it so cold?" complained Bulma.

"We're in the Yunzabit Highlands of course." answered Mr. Popo as he leapt down from the carpet.

"Yunzabit?! That's on the opposite side of the planet! Are you saying we traveled half the globe in an instant?!" Bulma asked as she climbed down from the carpet, completely freaked out.

Mr. Popo didn't really answer that question and started walking, Bulma following behind him. After about a minute of walking, he stopped and smiled. "There it is."

Bulma looked over Mr. Popo and saw an unnatural structure just standing in the middle of an opening. Both Bulma and Mr. Popo leapt down from the ledge they were on and walked up to the structure.

"So, is it a spaceship?" asked Mr. Popo.

"I can't be sure. We'll have to have a closer look." said Bulma. She walked over and tapped on one of the structure's spikes. "Well, it isn't made of metal, that's for sure. Okay, what exactly is this thing?"

"About 100 years ago, Kami told me about his past and how he lived here as a small child. He didn't know why he lived here, but this here was his house." He said as he looked up at the structure. "However, the information that he's an alien has made him believe that this may have been a ship from the planet Namek."

"A spaceship belonging to Kami? But if that's the case, why isn't he here to look at it?" Bulma continued to inspect the outer layer of the ship, wiping away some of the moss.

"He does not have a clear memory about whether this is a ship or not, so he wouldn't know how to work it very well." said Mr. Popo. "Besides, he's elsewhere performing negotiations."

"Negotiations? What would the literal god of the Earth need to negotiate, and to who?"

Off in Otherworld, Kami trembled in nervousness as King Yemma slammed his fist against his desk in frustration. "So let me get this straight, you want me to pull a guy out of Hell, give him his real body back, and let him go train with King Kai? Do you have any idea how utterly ridiculous that sounds?!"

Kami swallowed as he looked up at King Yemma. "I know it's an outrageous request for me to ask, but I believe it to be for the greater good. He may have been a cold-blooded warrior a year ago, but he's changed to be an honorable fighter."

King Yemma sighed as he pulls out a sheet of paper that regards Raditz. "Look, even if I was willing to give him a second chance, I'm not sure he would be. When he arrived, he accepted his fate and walked through those doors before I was even done filling out his paperwork."

Kami stared down at the ground as he understood what Raditz was thinking as he made that choice. He then lifted his head back up to Yemma. "Then as Earth's guardian, I am willing to put my title on the line to take responsibility if anything bad comes out of this decision. Besides, regardless of his choice, Goku and his friends plan to use the dragon balls to bring him back to life anyway."

Yemma growled and leaned his head back. "Those cursed dragon balls. They're a true nightmare when it comes to paperwork. Alright fine, I'll accept your request. But I'm keeping you to your word." He pulled out a stamp and slammed it down on the piece of paper.

5 minutes later, the doors to Hell opened up and the figure of the saiyan, Raditz, stepped out, a halo above his head. "What's going on here, ogre? I thought I told you to leave me in peace down in hell."

Yemma cleared his throat and points his hand down to Kami. "If you have any complaints, this is who you want to be talking to."

Raditz looked at Kami and widened his eyes. For a moment, he thought it was Piccolo, but after taking a better look, noticed the figure to be much more older. Seeing the resemblance between the 2 of them, he could only assume this was Kami. "What do you want with me, old man?"

Kami chuckled as he walked over to the saiyan. "Hello Raditz, I've no doubt that you know who I am. And what I want from you," He smiled and held out his hand. "Is to give you another second chance at living."

* * *

 **And that's chapter 7 done. Now, I'm gonna be straight with you. A week after the last chapter, I originally wrote this chapter in 1 night. But because this site doesn't give you a message to keep you from immediately going to another page, I lost everything because of a misclick. So I fell into a slump that kept me from writing for a while. Once I got back up from said slump, I took my time with this chapter, making it longer and adding a lot more detail than originally. Only 2 chapters away till the real start to the Namek saga and I gotta say, I'm nervous. So many expectations to meet. But we'll see how everything goes. Anyway, that's it for me.** **Feel free to leave a review telling me how you liked this chapter, what I could do to improve, what you'd like to see happen or any other general thoughts. Tune in next time for the next exciting installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	8. The course is set! Off to Namek!

Raditz crossed his arms as he stared at the elderly namekian. "A second chance at life? I don't need you humoring me. Piccolo already told me about the time limit of how long till you can't be revived."

"I'm not one to make jokes often. Your newfound friends are planning to bring you back to life whether you want to stay here or not." Kami simply smiled as he kept his hand stretched out. "Including your brother, Goku."

Raditz grumbled as he looked away. "Damnit Kakarot, what would father think about this situation if he knew?" He looked back at Kami. "Alright fine, I'll come back to life. But I'm not taking your hand."

"Good, but you're not coming back quite yet. In the time for you to wait, we'll be having you train with King Kai." He points in the direction to Snake Way.

"Who or what the hell is a King Kai?" shouted Raditz in his confusion.

"Kink Kai would happen to be a powerful deity!" shouted King Kai via telepathy.

Raditz stiffened as he heard a voice yelling at him in his head. "Great, all this nonsense has driven me to the point of insanity."

Kami smirked at the confusion of the saiyan. "You can rest easy. King Kai can telepathically speak to others. He was also the one who trained Goku to be strong enough to scare off the invading saiyans."

Raditz froze after hearing that last line. "You're telling me both of them are still alive?" Before Kami could respond, Raditz broke out into laughter. "What good fortune! I'll have a chance to kill them myself."

Kami looked up at Yemma, who was staring at him with an irritated look. "And what do you plan on doing after you get your revenge?"

Raditz stopped laughing and stared off at nothing in particular. "I suppose I'll just start a new life on Earth. I have an apology to give to Kakarot. Plus, someone has to train that runt of a nephew to be a proud warrior."

Both Kami and King Yemma let out a sigh of relief, telling that Raditz was being genuine. Kami led Raditz to the start of Snake Way. "This is the start of Snake Way. You'll find King Kai's planet at the end of it. It stretches out for a million kilometers, but it should only take you a couple of days to reach the end."

Raditz stared down the winding road of Snake Way and looked at Kami. "Would you mind doing me a favor? Tell Piccolo sorry for not telling him that he's a namekian. I was too concerned with my own survival to take real notice."

Kami looked stunned at the saiyan's request and nodded. "I'll make sure the message is delivered personally."

After a brief nod, Raditz started flying off towards King Kai's planet. Kami let out a sigh and stared at the ground. "Yes, it's probably best I deliver this message myself."

"Are you just gonna stay here, or are you gonna leave?! I have work to do!" shouted Yemma, freaking Kami out immensely.

While all that had been going down, Bulma and Mr. Popo had already come to the unmistakable conclusion that what they went to investigate was a spaceship. They went back to the hospital to go tell the others. "It's absolutely perfect! I'll have to fix it up a bit, but we could use it to reach Namek within a month! And if I work quickly, I could have it ready within 5 days!"

Everyone laughed in excitement as a ray of hope shone down upon them. "So we get to go to Namek in Kami's old spacheship huh? That's awesome!" said Krillin. He would be jumping in joy, but is too bandaged to do it.

Bulma turned around to face Mr. Popo. "Well Mr. Popo, we're counting on you to make it to Namek and reviving Raditz."

"Oh? I'm not going to Namek." said Mr. Popo.

"What?! But you have to go! You're the only one here who understands and speaks namekian." said a panicked Bulma.

"I would be away from Kami for 2 whole months. That is something I absolutely cannot do." Popo explained with an ever-straight face. "I'll teach you namekian instead."

As Bulma stood there completely dumbfounded, Krillin spoke up. "He isn't wrong though. Besides, if anything bad were to happen, you're the only one who'd be able to fix it so you kinda have to go."

Bulma groaned as she crossed her arms. "Fine, I guess there isn't any other choice. I'll have to install some things to make it bearable." She turns back around to face everyone else. "But I absolutely refuse to go by myself. Somebody is coming with me."

The first to stand up and volunteer was none other than Master Roshi. "2 months alone on a spaceship? Well, I suppose there's no other choice."

"Absolutely not! That will just make it worse!" shouted Bulma. She tried to think who an ideal companion would be. "Can't have Goku, he's too beat up. Piccolo would be great since he's a namekian, but there's no way I could last 2 months with him."

Yamcha stood up and walked up to Bulma, giving a thumbs up pointed towards his face to try and look cool. "I'll do it. It's been too long since we just chilled out together."

Bulma considered the potential pros and cons of spending 2 months alone in a confined space with Yamcha. "Alright, I guess it's settled. Yamcha and I will be going to Namek to bring Goku's brother back."

As everyone was talking amongst themselves at this point, Gohan climbed down from his bed. "Um, miss Bulma? Please take me with you to Namek!"

The room immediately went quiet as all eyes were now on Gohan. Chi-Chi walked over to her son and put her hands on his shoulders. "Oh don't mind him. He's just making jokes, isn't that right Gohan?"

"No, it's not a joke. I really want to go to Namek." Gohan clenched his fist as he stared at the ground.

"What are you talking about? You want to be away from your family for another 2 months on top of the year you were gone?!" Chi-Chi was trembling with anger as her son was wanting to leave her.

"I'm sorry mom, but I feel I have to go. Raditz protected both me and Mr. Piccolo and fought for the sake of everyone here. Besides, he's family. Since dad can't go, I have to." Gohan looked at his dad, who gave a proud smile and nod. Piccolo on top of the roof of the hospital smiled too, seeing his pupil making such a noble decision.

"What nonsense are you spouting?!" shouted Chi-Chi, causing everyone to back away from her. "You don't have to do anything! That man is responsible for your father's death and you all want to bring him back?! I won't argue with your father's wishes to bring him back, but I absolutely refuse to let you get involved with any of this! Besides, what about your lessons?! Do you want to fall behind anymore than you already have?"

Gohan grit his teeth and glared at his mother. "Shut up!"

Everyone flinched after hearing Gohan yell at his own mother. Piccolo was the only one who truly understood. _Hmph, so this is the results of training with a real saiyan huh? Well, at least he hasn't become ruthless like the other saiyans._

Chi-Chi trembled in despair that her own child just told her to shut up. _M-My Gohan. He's become a delinquent._

Gohan let out a sigh as he calmed himself down. "Mom, now isn't the right time for this. We have to bring uncle Raditz back to life. I learned how to fight, I can't just sit back and do nothing. I'm sorry mom, but this is something I have to do."

"He's got you beat Chi-Chi. Give him your acceptance to go off into space." said the Ox King as he place his hand on his daughter's shoulder to consult her.

"Oh, I suppose I have no choice in the matter. But I'm not leaving him alone with the playboy and his ex. Krillin, as Goku's best friend, I'm demanding you go with them and watch over Gohan." Chi-Chi then stepped out of the room without another room.

Krillin looked a bit stunned that he was being told that he'd have to go too without his own consent. "Well, I was hoping to train in case the saiyans came back, but I guess I have no choice. You have any complaints Goku?"

Goku shook his head, his eyes still fixed on his son. "Not at all. I trust you to keep him safe." _You've really grown, haven't you Gohan? I'll have to thank Raditz for making you so strong._

"Don't you worry, Goku. There shouldn't be any real danger if the saiyans are in as bad a shape as you say they are." said Bulma.

Several days later, most of the gang stands outside of Kame House, where the fixed namekian ship lays waiting for departure. Krillin, Bulma and Yamcha were all packed and ready to leave, simply waiting for Gohan to arrive. During their wait, Tien lands on the beach, carrying a duffel bag over his shoulder.

"Hey Tien, what's with the bag? And where's Chiaotzu?" asked Krillin, unable to sense Chiaotzu anywhere nearby.

"Chiaotzu's not coming. I am though." said Tien as he walked up to the ship.

The gang looked surprised to hear Tien's sentence. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean you're coming?" asked Yamcha.

"We don't know what'll happen out there. It'll be safer to raise our numbers." Tien just stood under the ship since he didn't know how exactly to get inside.

"If that's true, then why not bring Chiaotzu?" asked Bulma, who wasn't sure how to feel with an extra person coming with.

"Chiaotzu may not be the strongest, but he should be able to handle anything that happens here. And if Piccolo tries to take over the planet, we know Goku'll deal with him."

Before the conversation could drag on longer, Roshi saw Chi-Chi's car approaching the island. Chi-Chi and the Ox King stepped out of the car and while the Ox King was looking in awe at the spaceship, Chi-Chi was pulling out Gohan's luggage.

Gohan stepped out of the car and both Krillin and Yamcha could bearly hold back their lafter as they saw Gohan's bowl-cut hairdo. Everyone said goodbye and the 4 fighters along with Bulma got inside the spaceship.

"Alright everyone, place your things wherever you want and have a seat. We'll be departing in a moment." said Bulma as she went to her seat at the controls.

Yamcha, Krillin and Gohan listened and got into their seats, though Tien didn't have a place to sit since he was a last minute addition. He went to the back and braced himself for the launch. Once the ship took off and left the atmosphere, everyone got out of their seats and started to move about.

"You okay Mr. Tien?" asked Gohan as he rand over to Tien.

Tien nodded as he looked down at Goku's son and smiled. "Yeah, I've taken hits more forceful than that launch."

Bulma went into another room to go get changed. Both Gohan and Yamcha took this opportunity to change into their respective attire, Yamcha with his turtle hermit gi and Gohan's demon clan clothing.

A week of travel later, Bulma wakes up from her sleep and takes a look in the other room, finding the 4 others sitting in a circle meditating. At least that's what it looks like to her. In actuality, they were image training, fighting each other in their minds to strengthen their spirits.

After a while of this, they open their eyes, gasping for breath as is they had actually been fighting. They looked at each other and chuckled.

"I gotta say, that's quite a lot of techniques you got there Krillin." said Yamcha as he wiped off sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah, but Tien here's the one with the devastating attacks. Really quite the monster." replied Krillin.

Tien chuckled as he nodded his head. "I appreciate the compliment, but I'd say the real monster is Goku's son here." Aiming his eyes in Gohan's direction. "Piccolo and the saiyan did a good job training him."

Gohan laughed and rubbed the back of his head shyly, looking in Bulma's direction as he was the first to realize she was up. "Ah, Bulma. How long have you been there?"

"Quite a while. Don't worry about me, I don't want to interrupt your training." she said as she climbed into her chair and started tampering with something they couldn't see.

Krillin stood up and walked over to Bulma. "What's that you're working on?"

Bulma looked at him and held up 2 scouters, both of which had been taken from Raditz's body before Kami had taken it. "I'm just trying to fix these and configure them to our language and number system. Though one of them was really beat up."

"Ah, I recognize those. Uncle Raditz used one in our training to see just how our training was going." said Gohan as he ran over to take a look.

"Hey Gohan, didn't the saiyans say that they were eavesdropping on Raditz's conversations using those things?" asked Krillin.

Gohan, Tien and Yamcha suddenly got a chill down their spine. _What if someone has been listening to us the entire time?_

"You don't have to worry. It looks like Goku's brother did us a favor and turned off all communications from these things." said Bulma as if she could read their thoughts. "But if I can fix these up, we could speak to each other from different locations."

"Speaking of the saiyans, where do you think they went?" asked Yamcha as he sat down, the sudden stress immediately lifted.

"Well, they got pretty beat up. My guess is they went to somewhere with a civilization to get treated." Tien said as he leaned against a wall.

"Goku's brother did say they exterminate entire populations of a planet and sell them to other life, right?" questioned Bulma, continuing to fix the scouters.

"If that's true, then how long we have to rest before dealing with them consists entirely on how far they went." said Krillin.

18 days after the day the saiyans escaped the Earth, Nappa's pod crashed onto a landing pad on another planet. Several soldiers surrounded the pod as the hatch opened, Nappa lying there barely moving.

"He's insanely damaged. Grab him into the treatment center, quickly!" shouted one of the soldiers.

"But where's Vegeta? He should have been with Nappa!" shouted another soldier.

Nappa grunted as he brought himself to speak, despite his body hurting when he did so. "H-He's coming. Prepare to recover him immediately when he lands. He's in worse condition than me."

"How could you possibly know that?""

Nappa coughed up a little blood as he glares at the soldier. "Because I could hear the life support system when he contacted me."

The soldier looked at each other in worry as they got Nappa to the treatment center and into a healing pod. Roughly an hour later, Vegeta arrived and was just as bad as Nappa said. After quite a while of healing, the 2 saiyans were fully recovered and exited the pods.

Nappa looked at Vegeta and noticed his tail missing. "Vegeta! You're tail! What happened to it?!"

Vegeta walked over to put on some new armor that the soliders had ready for him, as well as a set for Nappa. "It's fine. I can live without it." He aimed his sights on one of the random soldiers. "Tell me, where's Freeza?"

"He left rather recently actually."

Vegeta scoffed at this information. "Sick of this planet already huh? Least I don't have to deal with him."

"Oh, that reminds me. Cui said that he had something to speak about with the both of you."

Both Nappa and Vegeta groaned at the mention of Cui. "Is that a fact? Tell that bastard that I've nothing to talk to him about." The both of them then started heading off for resting quarters.

The soldier noticed that Vegeta hadn't taken his scouter. "Wait, you forgot your scouter!"

Vegeta didn't stop walking even when told this. "Keep it, I have no use for it anymore."

Nappa looked questionably at Vegeta as his superior had just denied a scouter, though didn't ask up about it. Both the saiyans stopped as Cui stood in front of them, blocking their path. "What do you want Cui?"

Cui chuckled. "I have nothing to say to a weakling like you, Nappa." He then walked up to Vegeta with a wide grin. "Rumor around the station is that you got messed up pretty bad recently."

Vegeta groaned and tried to walk past Cui, "Get lost Cui, I have no time to listen to your drivel."

Cui grabbed hold of the shoulder pad of Vegeta's armor. "Now hold on. Lord Freeza was pretty upset about you just making the decision to go to Earth and not contact us for such a long time."

"If he was that upset, he'd have stayed here and punished us." said Nappa, swatting Cui's hand off Vegeta.

"Well, he's been in quite the delightful and forgiving mood after your incredible discovery." Cui couldn't contain his excitement to see the saiyan duo start to look panicked. "He was quite throlled at the prospect of eternal life and youth."

"What?! So where Freeza recently left to was-"

Cui nods and grinned. "Planet Namek."

Both Vegeta and Nappa ran past Cui and made a run straight for their spacepods. "This is bad Vegeta. If we don't hurry, we'll be under Freeza's rule forever!"

"I'm aware of that! We have to go now if we want to have any chance of stopping him and getting our own wish for immortality!" shouted Vegeta as the both of them climbed into their pods and blasted off straight for Namek.

As everything between the saiyans and the gang from Earth was going on, Raditz had been training on King Kai's planet. He was blasting waves of energy at flying targets constantly while also dodging those same targets. He hit every single one of his attacks and started panting after he destroyed the last target.

King Kai smiled as he walked up to Raditz. "I must say, you've got quite the latent potential. I should have expected no less than Goku's own brother."

Raditz smirked as he sat down, out of breath. "I was already used to this kind of gravity. These heavy weights you supplied me are the only thing making this training tough." He raised his arm to look at the heavy gauntlet that he had on each of his limbs as well as his back.

"Well, you're progressing quite well for someone who only took training seriously a year ago." said King Kai as he handed Raditz cup of water as well as some plates of food. "Not to mention you don't seem to eat as much as Goku so you have more time to train."

"I didn't always have the luxury to eat large amounts of food so I got used to it." said Raditz as he chugged down the water and scarfed down the food.

"Hmm, with the state you've been progressing, perhaps we should get you started in the more serious training." King Kai added a little bit more weight to Raditz's training gauntlets. "After all, I can imagine that you're gonna need to be as strong as you can if they manage to pull this off."

Raditz set down the plate and cup as he looked at King Kai with a look of curiosity. "What do you mean? Is something about to go down?"

King Kai nodded as he looks off in the direction of Namek. "It appears that Freeza is on the move and is planning on getting his hands on the namekians' dragon balls."

Raditz stood up immediately and grunted as he wasn't used to the increased weight yet. "Freeza?! Going to Namek?! We have to warn Gohan and his friends!"

"Now hold on there." said King Kai as he turned back to Raditz. "If we tell them that someone far worse than Vegeta is on Namek, then they'll panic and turn back around. That'll leave Freeza to gather the dragon balls and become immortal. And then what'll happen if he sets his sights on Earth?"

Raditz froze in horror at the mere thought of Freeza being unable to age or die. His hand trembled as he clenched his fist and grit his teeth. "Then what am I supposed to?"

"For now, we put our faith in them to succeed in bringing you back," King Kai then smiled at Raditz, which made the saiyan a little uneasy. "And bring you to a level where you can protect them when the time arises."

Raditz stared at the King Kai and then off to where his trainer was looking earlier. He was greatly worried about the whole situation, especially for those he'd met. During his time on Earth, he'd made what he'd call a friend in Piccolo, had grown to care about his nephew, wanted to make things right with Kakarot, and wanted to start a new life on Earth like his brother had. "Alright. Push me to my limits and make me stronger than I ever thought possible!"

* * *

 **And once again I'm done with yet another chapter. I wasn't planning on finishing this chapter so soon after the last one but after 1 hour special of Dragon Ball Super, I was just overflowing with Dragon Ball hype that I knew that the best way to spend it was to work on this. I don't have much else to say personally other than get excited for the Namek arc, baby! Anyway, leave a review if you liked the chapter and have anything to say. As always, tune in next time for the next exciting installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's tail.**


	9. Touchdown on Namek! A new threat!

A month after their voyage, the gang from Earth had finally made it to Namek. All were in awe of how pretty and green it was. After a couple minutes of admiring the planet, Bulma made everyone take a seat so they could land. The landing was pretty rough, especially for Tien who didn't have a seat.

"Alright. We made it." said Bulma. She walked over to a panel on the other side of the room. "Alright, before we go out, I need to check the planet's atmosphere. It'd be a miracle if there's oxygen but just in case, I brought some masks that'll give us some time. Oh, I just realized I don't have a mask for you Tie-" She turned her head to see everyone had already left the ship.

"Wow, this looks a lot like the place Mr. Piccolo and uncle Raditz trained me." said Gohan as he noticed the similarities in the terrain.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, this does look similar to where we fought the saiyans." said Krillin as he was taking in the sights. "Think he was following some sort of instinct?"

"Do you guys have any sort of common sense in those thick heads of yours?!" screamed Bulma as got out of the ship. "What were you thinking coming out here without knowing if the atmosphere is breathable?!"

"Geez, calm down Bulma. It all worked out fine didn't it?" said Yamcha as he put his hand on Bulma's shoulder, who responded to smack it away.

"For Kami's sake, there had better be dragon balls here." growled Bulma as she pulled out the dragon radar.

At the same moment the dragon radar picked up on 4 dragon balls, Gohan and Tien took notice of several powerful energies quite a ways away.

"Ah! A signal! There are dragon balls!" shouted Bulma in excitement. Her, Yamcha and Krillin started dancing around in excitement.

"Um, Krillin? I sense some powerful energy over there." said Gohan as he pointed in the opposite direction the dragon balls were.

Both Krillin and Yamcha stopped and focused, realizing it was true. "Yeah, there's quite a lot of them too."

"Oh come on guys, I'm sure it's just some namekians." said Bulma, not understanding what they could sense. "Considering how strong Kami and Piccolo, I'm sure these guys are pretty strong too."

"Yeah, but this energy. It feels.. Vile. Dangerous even." said Tien. His fist clenching as he's reminded of the time he fought King Piccolo and his minions.

"Oh come on, I'm sure you're overreacting. King Kai said that namekians are peaceful by nature, just like Kami." said Bulma, turning in the direction the dragon balls are. "Come on, there are 4 dragon balls over in that direction. We should go and introduce ourselves."

"Yeah, I'm sure it has to be namekians. There's no way the saiyans recovered that quickly." said Yamcha, choosing to believe Bulma.

Gohan stiffened as he was the first to notice a new energy and turned around, looking at the sky. His eyes widened as he saw 2 familiar pods coming down from the sky in the distance. Everyone else had the same response as they saw the pods as well.

"H-Hey guys? Why do those meteorites look so familiar?" asked Bulma as she backed up in fear.

"Those aren't meteorites." said Gohan as anger and fear started welling up inside him, his hands trembling.

"Those are saiyan spaceships!" shouted Krillin.

"What?! Are you sure?" asked Yamcha as he looked at his comrade and then back at the ship.

"That's impossible! There's no way they recovered from those injuries that fast!" growled Tien as he pressed to his chest tightly.

"Guys! Lower your power so he doesn't recognize us!" shouted Krillin. The other 3 fighters nodded and weakened their energies.

"Damnit, it has to be the saiyans. There's no mistaking that power." said a frightened Yamcha, still looking in the direction of where the saiyans landed.

"W-What do we do? The only thing we can do now is to go back to earth, right?" asked Bulma as she crawled backwards towards the ship.

"If they get their hands on the dragon balls, it's all over for us. Bulma, let everyone else know what's going on and then leave us behind." ordered Krillin. "We have the dragon radar so we'll have the advantage."

"Whatever you say. I'll let Roshi know what's happening and head back to grab Goku, then come back here." Bulma got to her feet as started moving to the ship. "The round trip should take roughly 2 months. Sit tight, okay?"

Krillin and Yamcha both laughed nervously. "2 months. Got it."

Over where Nappa and Vegeta landed, the saiyans climbed out of the pods. Vegeta pulled out a scouter and started putting it on. "Freeza, you rotten bastard. I won't let you take the dragon balls that are rightfully mine."

"I'm sure Cui told Freeza about our betrayal. That means he'll have us killed if he finds us." said Nappa as he stretched his arms. "What's the plan?"

"Hmph. We'll have to keep our distance for now. We gather whatever dragon balls we can and swipe the ones Freeza has when the chance shows itself." answered Vegeta. "To think I'd need to use a scouter again."

Nappa took notice of that comment but once again didn't bring it up, simply tapping his scouter and reading the power levels it catches. "Looks like he's over there. And he's brought Zarbon and Dodoria with him."

"Good. Now let's make sure to humiliate him for everything he's ever done to us." said Vegeta as the 2 of them flew away from their pods.

Back with the Earth gang, Bulma was explaining the situation to Roshi with a radio setup she had ready. While she was doing this, Gohan once again felt another large energy show up. Everyone else noticed too and looked to see yet another spacepod enter the planet's atmosphere and crash down far away.

"W-What?! Why is there another one coming?!" screamed Bulma as she accidentally hung up on Roshi.

"That's what I wanna know." answered Krillin.

"I don't understand, why is there another spaceship if there are only 2 saiyans?" asked a panicked Yamcha.

"Yeah, didn't you say the rest of the saiyans were wiped out a long time ago?" Tien asked both Krillin and Bulma.

"O-Okay, well I'm heading back to Earth now, so good luck! I'll come back with Goku as fast as possible." said Bulma as she started moving back to the ship.

"Bulma, wait!" shouted Gohan. Bulma turned to Gohan, unsure what he'd have to say. "Could you leave my uncle's scouters here with us?"

"Oh yeah! I forgot I had those." Bulma started digging through her pockets and equipment to see where she left them.

Tien was the one this time to notice energy approaching, but not from the sky this time. "Guys, someone's coming."

Bulma shrieked and hid behind on of the legs of the ship. "Is it a saiyan?!"

"No, this doesn't seem as strong as either of the saiyans' strength." said Yamcha, trying to calm things down.

"Maybe it's a namekian?" asked Krillin as he looked to where the energy was coming from.

From around the corner of a large rock formation, 2 figures who didn't look like saiyans walked out, wearing similar armor that the saiyans were wearing.

"Those don't look like namekians!" screamed Bulma as she hid behind the ship's leg again.

"They don't look like namekians. What in the world are they?" asked one of the figures. From the distance they are, the 2 figures couldn't hear the gang from Earth and vice-versa.

"It doesn't really matter does it?" said the other figure. "We were given orders to kill anyone on the planet."

"Guys, look at what they're wearing. Aren't those the same uniforms the saiyans were wearing?" asked Yamcha, who was already in a defensive stance.

"Yeah, but they don't look at all like saiyans." said Tien, also in a defensive stance. "What do you think that means?"

"I don't know. But whatever it means, I've got a bad feeling about it." said Krillin.

"Y-Yeah, no matter how you look at it, they don't look friendly at all." said Bulma, peeking out from her hiding spot.

The 2 figures started flying up and getting closer to the gang and their ship. "Look at that, their power level is garbage. They tourists yet?"

"Guys, start building up your energy, but don't go all out." said Krillin quietly. Everyone nodded.

"It won't be any fun if they get away. take out their ship first." ordered one of the soldiers to the other.

"Sounds like a plan." said the other soldier as he aimed a weapon mounted on his arm at the ship and firing an energy beam into the cockpit, destroying the controls.

"The ship!" shouted Gohan in fright. He turned to the soldiers and grit his teeth. He launched himself at them and kicked the soldier with the gun at the other soldier, knocking them out and seeing them drop into the water. He pants as he calms down and lowers his power again.

"What the heck, Gohan?! You might have given us away!" shouted Krillin.

"Well, it doesn't seem anyone else is coming for us." said Tien as he was looking around.

"Oh, it's hopeless. It's over! We're never getting back to Earth." said a sulking Bulma.

"Maybe we should get out of here. Someone stronger might show up." said Krillin.

"He's right. That energy we sensed earlier might be the saiyans' friends." said Tien.

Yamcha grabbed onto Bulma's shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm sure the namekians can fix the ship."

"Gee, how optimistic of you. Fine, let's just get out of here quickly." said Bulma, packing the radio equipment into a capsule.

Gohan was staring into the water where the soldiers fell in and likely drowned by now. "Actually, I'm gonna stay here for a bit. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

Krillin looked at Gohan and looked a little concerned. "I don't think that's a smart idea. It's best if we stick together." After seeing Gohan stay silent and stare into the water, he nodded and turned to the others. "Alright, let's go."

"But what about Gohan? We're really letting him stay here?" asked Bulma.

"He'll be fine. He knows how to defend himself. He's Goku's son after all." said Yamcha.

As Bulma stared at Gohan for a few moments, a hint of doubt entered her as she went with the other to a new location, the ship put inside a capsule. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Meanwhile, Vegeta and Nappa were standing in a clearing, looking face to face with Cui. Both Vegeta and Cui looked quite happy, but Nappa was only worried, unaware that Vegeta was hiding something.

"Well well, Vegeta. It looks like the time has finally come to put our rivalry to an end. Though with that power level, I don't think you'll be putting up much of a fight." said Cui as he was using his scouter to gauge the energy of the saiyans. "Though it looks like Nappa's increased in strength quite a bit in the last year."

Nappa grits his teeth and prepares to fire a sneak attack, but Vegeta holds out his arm to stop Nappa. "Rivalry huh? Well if this is our final encounter, I see no reason in holding back a new trick I learned on Earth."

Cui simply started laughing. "And what might that be? Running away?"

Vegeta smirked and narrowed his eyes. "The ability to manipulate my power at will." He got clenched his fists and the air around them felt a little more pressurized.

Both Nappa and Cui had the same reaction to this. "Manipulate your power? What are you talking?" asked Cui as he started feeling a bit nervous.

"That's right, Cui. Why don't you take a look at that fancy scouter of yours and tell me if we're still evenly matched." ordered Vegeta.

Cui used his scouter and widened his eyes as he saw saiyan prince's energy rise up higher and higher, trembling in place as he was seeing it keep rising up. "How is this possible?! You and I have always been evenly matched!"

"Did you think us saiyans were always gonna be on the same level as you trash?! We've seen combat you could never have dreamed of! The battle on Earth nearly took my life!" shouted Vegeta, grinning at how Cui was responding.

Nappa was just staring at Vegeta in awe, amazed that someone who's dreaded Freeza was suddenly raising his power beyond that of Zarbon and Dodoria, Freeza's right hand men."

Cui looked on in horror as Vegeta's power continued to raise. So much so that his scouter exploded off his own head. "W-Wait a minute! What if we teamed up?! I'm sure with the 3 of us, we could be unstoppable! I never even liked Lord- I mean Freeza!"

"You're such a pathetic creature Cui, hiding behind your blatant lies. You sicken me." Vegeta said as he finished pushing his power to its limit.

Cui grumbled as he had to do something fast. "I-It's no lie, I promise you. You have to believe me, Vegeta!" He turned his eyes past Vegeta. "Ah, Lord Freeza!"

Both Nappa and Vegeta fell for the trick and looked behind them, seeing absolutely nothing behind them. Cui used this opportunity to fire a flurry of attacks at the saiyans with everything he had.

After he finished attacking, Cui looked at the destroyed and smoking terrain and no sign of the saiyans. "Heh heh heh. I don't care how powerful you've gotten, there's no chance you're getting back up after an attack like that head-on."

"Hmph, in your dreams. That was a pretty pathetic attack, even for you." said Vegeta. Cui whipped his head around to see both Nappa and Vegeta behind him, Vegeta holding onto his underling as he moved him out of the way. "If my power has risen, obviously my speed has grown as well. All that pitiful excuse of a sneak attack did was piss me off."

Cui looked in horror as the saiyans didn't even have a scratch on them. He knew that he stood no chance against them at this rate and immediately started flying away.

"I'm not letting you get away!" shouted Vegeta, flying after Cui and catching up with ease, getting in front of the pathetic soldier. Vegeta slammed his fist against Cui's stomach viciously and send him flying upwards. He then aimed his hand up at Cui and much like the saibaman he killed on Earth, made him self-destruct in heaping explosion.

Nappa caught up to Vegeta and looked a little shook, never having seen Vegeta us this kind of power. "What the heck was that? What happened on Earth that made you gain this much power?"

Vegeta looked at his hand, looking excited at how powerful he's become. "Let's just say I owe Kakarot my thanks for all this. I never thought I'd have the chance to take out Freeza's men. Who knows, I just might spare his planet and just take his life."

Nappa chuckled a bit. "Well, I guess we got nothing to worry about then, huh? If we pick off his men one by one, we can get our wish for immortality easily!"

Vegeta looked at his underling with a smile. "Not a bad idea. What better way to humiliate Freeza than to kill his soldiers AND take the dragon balls from him. I made the right choice keeping you around." Now come on. We've got work to do."

The Earth gang had been walking for quite some time. The fighters of the group were doing fine but Bulma looked pretty tired and was lagging behind.

"Come on, Bulma. If we don't hurry, they're gonna find us for sure." ordered Krillin.

"Can't you guys fly? Why don't you just grab on to me and fly to somewhere safe?" asked Bulma, looking out of breath.

"We would, but flying takes too much energy." answered Tien, who would know since he was the first to know before even Goku about the flying technique. "They'd be able to track us if we were to fly. They can't if we walk."

Yamcha, who was at the head of the pack noticed a cave not too far away. "Guys, look! A cave, straight ahead! There's no way they'll see us in there."

Bulma continued to whine as she was forced to take this accommodation. "Awe man, how long am I gonna be stuck in this place?"

As they got right to the cave entrance, Tien sensed the energy from a group of beings not all that far from them. "Hey Krillin, you feel that?"

Krillin looked where Tien was and also sensed it. "Yeah, and it feels different from what we felt before. Maybe this time it is a namekian."

Before they continue, Gohan was running at them rather quickly, his power still lowered to avoid attention. "Everyone, hide!"

Before they were able to ask Gohan what he meant, Gohan grabbed onto everyone and pulled them inside the cave. Bulma groaned as Yamcha had fallen on top of her and sat up. "What the heck was that about Gohan?"

Mere moments after saying that, a large number of beings flew past the cave at frightening speeds. Even after the last of them had past, everyone was shaken with fear. "W-What on Earth was that?" asked Bulma.

"Geez Gohan, how did you know about that so quickly? I only sensed them the moment you pulled us into the cave." asked Krillin.

Gohan panted as he looked up. Everyone noticed 2 things about him: his clothes were dripping wet and he was wearing a scouter. "Uncle Raditz taught me how to use one of these. I took them both from those guys I attacked and saw powerful people heading your way. So I ran as fast as I could without raising my power."

Gohan also seemed to look completely panicked by something else as well. "Hey, Gohan. What's the matter with you? You look a little shaken up." asked Tien.

"Bulma, can you check the dragon radar? I think those guys might have taken the dragon balls." said Gohan, still trembling.

Bulma looked pretty confused and looked at the radar, seeing the 4 dragon balls that were bunched together on the move, in the same direction as the guys who flew past a moment ago. "Yeah, you're right. All 4 of them are on the move with those guys. But why does that have you shaken up?"

"You guys probably would have noticed anyway if I hadn't distracted you and pulled you in, but 3 of those guys are even stronger than the saiyans." Gohan grabbed onto his shirt as he tried to calm himself down.

Everyone went wide-eyed and screamed in unison. "What?!"

"So Vegeta isn't even the worse of them? Who the heck are these guys?" cried out Yamcha, doing his absolute best to not completely freak out.

"Hold on, they're going right for another dragon ball." said Bulma, getting everyone's attention. "What's going on? Do they have a radar too?"

"Where's the location?" asked Krillin.

Bulma pointed in the direction of where the aliens flew. "About 14 kilometers in that direction."

"Ah, that's where we sensed the energy of what we thought might be namekians!" shouted Tien.

Krillin looked in that direction and a drop of sweat slid down his forehead. "I have a bad feeling about this. If those guys are Vegeta's friends, then I don't like what might happen to those namekians. I'm going to check things out."

"Yeah, I'm going too!" said Gohan, having calmed down and now full of determination.

"Count me in too." said Tien.

"Whoa, hey! You're just gonna leave me here?!" shouted Bulma, who was both scared and angry at this prospect.

"Where we're going, it's too dangerous to bring you along." says Krillin as he changes into his gi.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll stay here and guard Bulma. You guys just be careful out there." said Yamcha.

Bulma grumbled but knew they were right. "Alright, I guess this is for the best. I'll set up a capsule house in the cave."

"Alright. Tell Master Roshi what's going on." said Krillin. He turned to the others. "Alright, make sure to keep your power levels low as we move quickly."

Both Tien and Gohan nodded. "Right!"

All 3 of them started making giant leaps across the area, making quick progress in getting to where the dragon balls are, unaware of the full terror of what they're about to find.

* * *

 **First chapter of Namek finally done. Gotta say, this one was pretty fun to right as I got to take quite a few creative liberties without ruining the story. Also, to clarify 1 thing, I've written Gohan to be more violent because of his training with Raditz, making those rare violent spurts from him become more common. Also, I skipped on writing the Freeza dialogue of the chapter for 2 reasons: firstly because this dialogue would hardly change anything to the story other than a few words and it would make a better start to his character in this series where the heroes first see his terror. Anyway, that's all from me. You know what to do at this point. See you in the next installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	10. A living nightmare The merciless Freeza

Back on Earth, Goku was doing push-ups in his hospital room. Of course he was wearing his weighted clothing since otherwise he'd feel too light in his exercises. The doctor had constantly told him not to wear such things as he's supposed to be resting, but Goku had no intention of just sitting around when his body could move.

Master Roshi stepped into the room and saw Goku doing his training. "Ah, Goku. Glad to see you're lively as ever. Chi-Chi isn't here is she?"

Goku looked at Roshi and flipped himself back to his feet. Despite what the doctors said, he was relatively back to normal. "Nah, Chi-Chi got bored and went shopping. What's up?"

"Ah, firstly, here's a castella. I'm sure it'll taste better than that hospital food." Roshi set down a box containing the japanese cake. "Secondly, I got a message from Bulma about 2 hours ago."

"Oh, so they got to Namek safely? That's a relief. How is everyone?" asked Goku as he took a seat on his bed.

"Well, that's what I came to tell you in person. It seems that they're not the only ones who made it to Namek. Both of the saiyans are there too." said Roshi, a drop of sweat dropping from his forehead.

"What?! Both of them?! There's no way, I saw their condition before they left. Do they have something like senzu beans out in space?" wondered Goku, raising his head as Roshi started to speak again.

"That isn't the end of it. Just before I got here, Turtle sent me a message that Bulma sent another transmission. It turns out the saiyans aren't alone. There are at least 10 of their friends on Namek and they destroyed the ship. They're stranded on Namek." said Roshi, the tone of his voice dropping as he dreaded being the message carrier.

Goku gripped the bed tightly and stared at the ground, angered as this was just like when the saiyans attacked: everyone having to defend themselves and he isn't able to get to them immediately.

"And to make matters worse, apparently there's someone far stronger than Vegeta there too." said Roshi as he continued the bad news.

"What?! Then I have to go help them." said Goku as he got up from the bed and ran to a cabinet, pulling out a fresh gi made by Kami.

"Hey, if you're leaving, save me the trouble of chasing after ya." Both Roshi and Goku turned around to see Yajirobe standing in the doorway, holding a bag of what are undoubtedly senzu beans. "The next batch of senzu beans grew. There's only 7 though, but Korin said it should be enough."

"Ah, that's perfect! I'll need those if everyone on Namek is still alive by the time I get there." Goku changed into his gi and took the bag of senzu beans.

"Hold on, how exactly do you plan to get to Namek?" asked Roshi.

"Well, a couple of weeks ago, Bulma's dad came to visit. I figured I would ask him to build me a spaceship." said Goku as he opened up the window and hopped onto the counter. "After thinking about it for quite a while, I realized we have 2 saiyan ships here on earth. The busted one my brother came in and the one that brought me to Earth."

Roshi's eyes widened behind his glasses as he remembers that his former student Gohan had told him about finding a young child inside an unknown object. It would make sense for it to still be there. "That's right. So you'll be using that to get to Namek?"

"Sort of. He's remodeling it to add a bit more space, but it should work just as good. Once it's done, I should be able to reach Namek in about a weak or less." He looked out the window and took a deep breath. "Nimbus!" He then hopped out of the window and a cloud flew under him, then flying him in the direction of Bulma's house.

Upon reaching Bulma's house, Goku hopped off the Nimbus cloud. As he started walking around and looking for either of Bulma's parents, he noticed a familiar energy nearby and ran torward it, finding Piccolo just standing there. "Hey Piccolo! What're you doing here?"

Piccolo opened his eyes and looked over at Goku. "Took you long enough to get here. And what else would I be doing here? I heard you were getting a ship to Namek so I had to see it for myself."

"Ah, here to see me off then. By the way, having you seen either of the Briefs?" asked Goku as he and Piccolo started walking around.

"I can only assume that the woman who tried to talk to me earlier is who you're talking about. She was getting on my nerves so I shooed her away." Piccolo looked up as he saw a large spherical object in the middle of the yard with a man coming out of it.

"Ah, Goku. You should have let me know you were here." said Mr. Briefs as he stood in the entrance of the sphere. "I gotta tell ya, it's not quite finished yet. A few kinks here and there. Come on in."

Both Goku and Piccolo stepped inside the ship and looked around, the inside quite spacious. "This is awesome! My tiny little pod became all this?"

"What can I say? I built it to your specifications. Had to build the entire thing nearly from scratch, so it's pretty impressive that I got it all done so soon." said Dr. Briefs, admiring his handicraft.

"Did ya install the artificial gravity machine?" asked Goku. Piccolo's ear twitched and just stared at Son Goku silently.

"Yes, right over here." Briefs answered as he walked over to it, explaining the controls. "It goes up to 100 times that of Earth's gravity, though I still don't think that's a good idea. Normally that would kill you."

"That's okay. It'll help me push myself so that I'll be ready to face off against the saiyans again." said Goku.

Piccolo stepped up behind both of them, freaking out Dr. Briefs with how intimidating the namekian looked. "Is this thing capable of flying?"

"Y-Yes. Just a push of that button over there will have the ship blasting off to Namek, reaching it within 6 days." said Dr. Briefs, turning his attention back to Goku. "Well, the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom are downstairs."

"What? If that's everything, then what exactly is there left to do?" asked Goku, who was still worried about everyone on Namek.

"Well, I figured you'd enjoy some music while you train so I still need to install some speakers. 6 days by yourself in this ship will probably drive you crazy." answered Briefs.

"What?! I don't have time to wait for speakers! I need to get to Namek as soon as possible!" shouted Goku.

"What are you in such a hurry for? I know you want to go to Namek, but isn't this a bit too much?" Briefs felt a little sweat drop from his forehead as he was being yelled at by the strongest guy on the planet.

"I got a message from Bulma. The saiyans that attacked the Earth also went to Namek and a brought a bunch of friends who blew up their ship!" answered Goku in a harsh tone.

Both Piccolo and Briefs stiffened up as they got the bad news. "W-Well why didn't you say so?"

Mr. Briefs quickly told Goku how to fly the ship and got out of it. Goku noticed Piccolo hadn't budged. "Piccolo, you have to get out now. If I start this ship with you on it, there's no other chances for you to get off."

Piccolo smirked as he pressed the start button, causing the ship to blast off into space. Before Goku could settle down from the launch ask him why, he started to explain. "I planned on going to Namek with you from the beginning. I have my own reasons."

Goku stared at Piccolo and smiled. "Well, we're gonna be stuck with each other for a couple of days, may as well get it out now."

Piccolo looked Goku dead in the eyes and sighed. "Kami and I have finally come to terms with our ancestry. Since he can't go, I have no choice but to fill in for him. Besides.." He turned his head to look out the window. "I owe it to Raditz. After all, he did save my life against the saiyans."

Goku continued to smile at his old foe, glad to see he's changed so much. "Well, we've only got 6 days to train before reaching Namek. I don't expect you to keep up, but I plan to make it to 100 times Earth's gravity before then. If it gets too much for you, I'm sure the lower area will do you some good."

Piccolo let out a grunt of disbelief. "You think I'm just gonna sit by and let you just abuse you saiyan biology and leave me in the dust? Not happening. I might not be able to use my weighted clothing for this training, but I should be fine in this training as long we have senzu beans."

Goku crossed his arms and tilted his head. "My saiyan biology? What does that have to do with us training?"

 _That's right. He wasn't there to tell him this._ Thought Piccolo to himself. _No harm telling him._ "You saiyans are capable of getting stronger whenever you fight and recover from the fight. And according to Raditz, recovering from near death bumps your power quite a bit."

"Wow, Raditz told you all that? Man, he really was a good guy, after all." said Goku as he started walking over to the gravity controls. "Also, we only have 7 senzu beans. Think we'll need them all?"

"It'd be best to conserve as many as we can. We should split them in half and only consume them when we absolutely need them. That might be good enough to serve our training if they do restore our strength by at least half."

Goku nodded as he pulled out the bag of senzu beans and set it down. "Since you're not used to increased gravity, we should start with at least 15 times the Earth's gravity."

After adjusting the settings on the gravity controls, both fighters stumbled as the gravity instantly changed. Piccolo grunts and groans as he comes to truly realize how Goku had gotten so much stronger in just a year. He tosses his weighted clothing off and takes a heavy breath. "Alright. If 100 times is our objective, we can't waste anymore time."

Goku nodded in agreement as he started doing stretches. He looked out the window and smiled. "We're coming guys. Just hang on as long as you can."

On Namek, Krillin, Tien and Gohan were approaching the abundance of energy where the dragons balls were. "Alright, this should be close enough. Drop your power as much as you can and we'll walk the rest of the way." said Krillin.

Both Tien and Gohan nodded and did as instructed. After landing on the ground, they ran up the side of a cliff and dropped down, peaking over to see what was happening. They found a small village with houses that looked familiar. "Hey, those houses look a lot like Kami's ship." said Gohan.

"Yeah, but the guys going into the houses sure don't look like namekians." said Tien, seeing quite a few guys aliens wearing the same kind of armor as the saiyans.

"What do you think they're doing? " asked Krillin, watching only 3 of the aliens just standing around. "Those 3 standing there have power way greater than those lackeys or even the saiyans, especially the one in the middle." After taking a closer look, he noticed the aliens on the left and right each were holding 2 large orbs that had a familiar look to them. "Guys, look what those 2 are holding! They're dragon balls!"

"Ah, they're massive!" said Tien as he was astonished at the sight of the namekian dragon balls.

The bulky pink alien turned his head in the direction where the 3 earthlings were. The 3 of them ducked their head quickly enough to not get spotted.

The alien in the middle, sitting in some kind of pod looked to the alien looking away. "Something the matter, Dodoria?"

"Nah. Just a weak reading on the scouter at the cliffs over there, though it isn't there anymore. Probably just a wild animal." answer Dodoria as he looked forward again.

The earthlings were covering their mouth and shaking as they almost got caught. "That was too close for comfort." said Krillin, saying aloud what everyone was thinking.

"Lord Freeza, we could only find 5 of them! It looks like the others are out at the moment!" said one of the soldiers. The soldier walked out of the namekian house with a couple of new, green aliens close behind. "Cooperate peacefully, otherwise I start shooting." the soldier said to the alien.

The earthlings widened their eyes as they looked at the aliens coming out. _They look just like Kami and Piccolo. They must be Namekians!_

The namekians stiffened a bit as they saw Dodoria and the other alien carrying 2 dragon balls each. They could already tell that these men didn't earn them so they feared the worst.

"Good day, my name is Freeza. As you've probably guessed, I'm looking for these so-called dragon balls." said the alien sitting in the floating pod. "I'm curious though, aren't there supposed to be 10 of you here? Where are the others?" After the Namekians chose to be silent, Freeza spoke again. "If you choose to be difficult by staying silent, I will have no choice but to kill you."

The largest of the namekians grunted as his people were being threatened. He opened his mouth and started speaking in namekian, though Freeza raised his hand to interupt him.

"Now now, no speaking in namekian. Use something we can all understand." ordered Freeza.

The namekian groaned as he was being ordered around by this foreigner. "The others are out working the field. What you see here is just the young and the elderly."

Freeza simply smiled. "Good. If you simply answer honestly, nothing bad will come to you. Now that I have you answering my questions, I'll continue from earlier. Where is the dragon ball. I believe there's one here, correct?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. We don't have anything known as 'dragon balls' on this planet." said the elder namekian, despite knowing that he speaks of the wish orbs that his associates are holding.

"How interesting. The 2nd namekian that we killed said the same thing. He absolutely refused to give me any kind of info due to his own stubbornness. Though he was far more compliant to talk after we killed one of his friends." said Freeza with an ever calm expression.

Hearing this caused both the namekians and the earthlings to stiffen. "W-What kind of monster is he?" asked Tien.

"Once he began talking, he told me all about the origins of the dragon balls and how they were created by your Grand Elder, as well as the fact that each dragon ball is in the custody of an elder. He also told me that one must prove to be a man of valor if you wish to have the elder give you the dragon ball. Of course when I tried, he said he could absolutely not give the dragon ball to me. So I had no choice but to kill him." explained Freeza, closing his eyes as he remembers it vividly. "The next 3 elders were far more understanding and were happy to give me the dragon balls when I showed them the one I already have."

The elder namekian clenched his fist and glared at Freeza. "They were happy to give it to you? What ridiculous lies you speak!"

"Oh, but they were far too eager to help us after we did this.. Zarbon, give them a demonstration." commanded Freeza.

Zarbon smiled and moved at quick speeds, appearing to the left of one of the elder namekians. He swung his leg right into the elder's neck, causing the namekian to drop to the ground, his life ended in an instant.

One of the other elders became furious and raised their arm up, preparing to attack. "How dare you!"

Zarbon tossed one of the dragon balls in his arms into the air, dodging the energy beam that the elder made and hit one of Freeza's soldiers. Zarbon then responded and fired a beam at the elder, scorching him and making him collapse to the ground, dead as the other elder. Zarbon landed back on the ground and caught the dragon ball that he'd thrown.

"H-How could they do that?" Krillin asked.

"They didn't even have a fighting chance." said Tien, trembling at the might of the aliens.

"H-How terrible." said Gohan, gritting his teeth as his anger was starting to act up again.

"How about it. Are you willing to give us the dragon ball now?" asked Freeza.

"What do you hope to gain from slaughtering my people and taking our 'dragon balls'?" asked the remaining elder, holding tightly onto the 2 younger namekians.

"Oh, it's a simple wish really. I just want to get my hands on immortality is all." answered Freeza, seeing to problems with just blurting out his wish.

"Ah, no way. He and the saiyans are after the same thing?" Krillin couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Maybe they aren't Vegeta's friends after all." said Gohan, his anger still in control but fluxuating.

"Whether they are or not changes very little. They're still monsters trying to get their hands on the dragon balls." said Tien.

"I will never give the dragon ball to the likes of you." declared the elder namekian. "Even if it costs me my life."

"Oh? So you'd rather die than just handing it over peacefully? I wonder, will you feel the same even if we kill those young ones you're holding onto?" asked Freeza, narrowing his eyes.

Both the elder and the earthlings were stunned at this threat. "You would even kill the children?!"

Dodoria's scouter suddenly beeped as some high power levels started approaching. "Lord Freeza, we've got company!"

In the sky, 3 namekians looking closer to Piccolo than Kami were flying toward the village. The eathlings were surprised to feel just how strong these namekians felt while the elder looked glad to see the namekians. "You came, at last!"

One of the 3 namekians looked at the dead elders and grit his teeth. "It looks my feeling of dread was right on the mark."

"Well isn't this disappointing. We were so close to an agreement." muttered Freeza. "It's a shame, you interrupted your precious work just to come here and die."

The namekian raised his fist and glared at Freeza and his men. "I promise you, you're going to suffer for every namekian you killed. We won't let you ruin Namek's peace any longer!"

"Oh, so you actually plan to fight? Dodoria, what are their power levels?" asked Freeza.

"Lemme check." Dodoria pressed his scouter and started scanning their power levels. "Heh, what do you know? They've each got a power level of 1000. Looks like we won't have to even get involved, Zarbon."

The elder namek watched as Dodoria used the scouter to read the strength of his fellow namekians. _So that's it. That's how they can find the few villages across the whole surface of Namek. If they didn't have them, they'd never be able to find the remaining wish orbs._

One of the soldiers stepped forward and started laughing. "You really want to tangle with us with such pathetic power levels?"

"Those guys, can't they tell the namekians are suppressing their energy?" wondered Krillin.

"The saiyans were surprised when they learned we could do that." said Gohan.

"It's those devices. They can only read the current strength of an opponent and not their max." said Tien as he put their observations together into a solid conclusion.

"Get them!" shouted one of the soldiers as he started rushing towards the namekians, causing the others to follow.

One of the namekians started shouting as he raised his power and kicking the closest soldier, knocking him into a mountain wall, surprising all the soldiers. The other 2 namekians joined in and started attacking the soldiers, easily taking them down.

Zarbon turned to Dodoria. "A power level of 1000 you say?"

Dodoria looks shocked as he uses his scouter again. "I don't get it! Each of their power has tripled!"

"Well this is something new. It looks like the namekians are capable of controlling their power levels." said Freeza, finding it quite fascinating, despite his soldiers being killed at the hands of the namekians.

The elder took notice that there were only 3 scouters left to destroy, including the one Dodoria's wearing. "Children, get behind me."

"This is just sad. Looks like I'll have to get my hands dirty." said Dodoria as he started to put down the dragon balls. "Hope you don't mind me taking out all 3."

The elder saw his chance to attack and fired a beam of energy from his finger, aiming for Dodoria's scouter and destroying it but only making the brutish alien stumble.

All 3 of the aliens looks at the elder with surprise, but Dodoria smirked. "Did you really think a pathetic attack would be enough to kill me?"

The elder leaped high into the air and screamed as he fired 2 more finger beams, aimed for the other 2 scouters and destroying them.

"Ah, damn it! He was going after the scouters!" shouted Zarbon.

"Scouters?" asked Krillin.

Tien went wide-eyed as he looked at Gohan, who was still wearing a scouter and had a spare scouter in his pocket. "One of those devices that can read an opponent's strength and location! The saiyan had them!"

"So that's it! They don't have a dragon radar, they've just been tracking down namekians and forcing them to give up the dragon ball!" shouted Krillin. Luckily everyone down below was too preoccupied to notice him. "That's why the elder destroyed them when he found that out!"

Dodoria growled and raised his fists into the air. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" He flew up and was approaching the elder.

"Dodoria, wait! Kill the 3 younger namekians first!" ordered Freeza, causing Dodoria to freeze up immediately.

Dodoria did a couple of flips and landed in front of the namekians. "This should be easy. You'll all be dead within seconds."

"You honestly think you can take all 3 of us at once?" the namekian asked.

"Take you on? Now that's just a joke." said Dodoria. In the blink of an eye, he was already behind the namekian, his hand thrust right through his torso. He didn't hesitate to continues his attack, firing a beam from his mouth and killing a second namekian at point blank range.

The remaining namekian kept jumping back and away from each of Dodoria's swipes, firing energy from both of his hands at Dodoria and actually hit, creating a sizable explosion. Though from the crater of the explosion, Dodoria simply walks out with hardly a scratch on him.

"It.. It's over.." muttered Krillin as he couldn't help but look away.

Dodoria flew right towards the namekian and rammed his spiky head into the namekian's torso, not stopping and rams him into a wall, killing the last namekian.

"Hmph, I take it you now understand that it's pointless to retaliate or run away. Just come down and cooperate." said Freeza to the elder namekian.

The elder stared at Freeza and his men and dropped back to the ground, not saying a word.

"Good, I'm glad you understand the situation." said Freeza, his smile still present. "So, since you've destroyed our precious scouters, I suppose giving the dragon ball will suffice as an apology. Otherwise the children's lives will be the payment."

The elder groaned as Freeza continued to make threats, knowing too well that he would go through with them. "Very well. In exchange, I want your word that you will not lay a hand on the children."

Freeza gave a wide grin in happiness. "You see? Had you given the ball to us from the start, all of this could have been prevented."

The elder started to walk away to grab the dragon ball. The earthlings up on the cliff just watched in horror, all 3 of them trembling. "Geez, those guys are nothing but cold-blooded." said Krillin.

Gohan stared down at them, raking his fingers through the dirt as his anger was starting to get the better of him, his power rising. Had the scouters not been destroyed, he'd have already been caught. "How.. How dare they.."

"Ah, Gohan. You need to calm down. We're in no condition to be taking those guys on." said Tien, putting an arm on Gohan.

The elder came back, holding a dragon ball with 5 stars in it. "Here, take the ball and don't come back."

"Very good. Now while you're at it, tell me where the other 2 dragon balls are." commanded Freeza after his soldier takes the dragon ball.

"What?! You really think I would sell out the rest of my brethren just to let them meet the same fate as those here?" said the elder, glaring at Freeza. "We had a deal. Honor your word and leave immediately!"

"Oh my, it appears you're no different. Your kind simply have no desire to speak about each other. I guess you'll just have to die with the children." said Freeza with a smug face.

"What?! Why you-" said the elder before taking Dodoria's elbow to the face, flying back and collapsing to the ground his nose bleeding. "We had a deal. You said you'd leave us alone if we gave you the orb."

"But if I don't have all 7 of them, then what's the point. If you wanted the deal to go right, you shouldn't have destroyed our scouters." said Freeza. "Now tell us where the last 2 balls are."

"I told you already, I'd rather risk my life than let you terrorize my people any further." declared the elder as he started to get back up.

"Hmph, very well. If you wish to die, then who am I to keep you from it. Zarbon, Dodoria. Kill them all." ordered Freeza.

* * *

 **Whoo boy, I did not expect this chapter to be this long. Freeza really has ways of making things drag on. I didn't plan on putting this on such a cliffhanger, but it was already getting really long and I don't want to make a single chapter drag on too long. Feel free to let me know how I did and if you felt if I did something wrong. I'll see you next time in the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	11. End of Dodoria A saiyan's might

Dodoria chuckled as he was given direct orders to kill the last of the namekians. "Roger that, Lord Freeza."

The elder growled as he stood back to his feet, glaring at the tyrant and his underlings. "Children, run away. Now!" He raised his arms into the air, likely preparing for an attack. "Prepare to face the power of namekian pride!"

Freeza rolled his eyes and smirked, pointing his finger out and firing a beam from it, shooting right past the elder's head and hitting his mark by hitting one of the namekian children.

The other namekian child stared down as his sibling drop to ground as a smoldering corpse. "N-No! Cargo!"

Gohan watched this happen and a part of him snapped, his energy shooting upwards. "Those.. Bastards!"

Dodoria didn't hesitate to attack right after Lord Freeza, grabbing the elder by the collar and wrapping his arms around the elder's neck. In one swift moment, Dodoria snaps the elder's neck, killing him. He then drops the corpse and smiled. "What was that you were talking about namekian pride?"

Krillin and Tien noticed Gohan acting up, so they reached over and grabbed onto him, trying to hold him back. "Gohan, just calm down. We don't stand a chance against those guys. You'll just get us killed."

The young namekian tried to run, but Dodoria dropped down in front of him. "Kids don't make very good sport." He raised his arm up. "Oh well, time to die!"

Gohan's head snapped back as he screams in rage, his power higher than it's ever been. He broke out of Krillin and Tien's grasp and rushed at Dodoria. "I'll kill you!"

Both Freeza and Zarbon looked in the direction from where Gohan screamed. Dodoria looked around, trying to find where it came from. "An ally of yours? Where is he?"

Gohan got right beside Dodoria and slammed his foot into the side of the alien's face with a fierce kick, sending him flying into a nearby namekian house.

Both Krillin and Tien knew that hiding at this point was useless. The flew after Gohan.

Dodoria grunted and looked at his assailant as Gohan landed. "What the hell?! Who are you?!"

Gohan grit his teeth and glared at Dodoria. "I'm the one who's gonna kill you!"

Dodoria chuckles as he found the kid's words amusing. "Kill me you say?"

Krillin rushed in and went for a dive kick against Dodoria's face, knocking the pink alien onto the ground. He turns his head to look at Gohan. "You idiot! Move, now!" He grabbed onto the namekian child and flew off.

Tien grabbed onto Gohan and flew after Krillin when Gohan hadn't yet calmed down. "Gohan, snap out of it. This isn't like you."

Gohan snapped back to reality and realized what he'd done. He made Tien let him go and started flying on his own. "I'm sorry guys. I lost control."

Meanwhile, Freeza just watched this unfold with utter bewilderment. "Well that was quite odd. They weren't namekians. Who were they?" He saw Dodoria getting back up. "After them Dodoria! Don't let them get away!"

Completely angry about his assailants pulling a hit and run, he rushed after them in a blind rage. "Worthless bastards!"

"Don't slow down for everything! If we get caught, we're dead!" shouted Krillin. He turned his head to look behind them and saw Dodoria right behind him, gaining on them. "Crap, he's faster than us. We're not gonna make it!"

"Hold on, I have an idea. Both of you, look away and close your eyes!" shouted Tien. He turned around to fly backwards, raising his hands to his head. "Solar Flare!"

Dodoria froze as Tien created a blinding light, unable to see and started rubbing his eyes. "Gah, damn it! My eyes!"

"Good work, Tien! Quick, let's hide while we have the chance!" ordered Krillin.

All of them flew down to the ground and hid behind some rocks. Once Dodoria regained his sight he looked around, trying to find them. "Damn bastards. Where did you go?!" He continued to fly around, trying to find them.

"It's a good thing that old guy destroyed the scouters, otherwise he wouldn't be looking so aimlessly." said Krillin, trying to keep his voice down.

"Damnit, how am I supposed to find them in this kind of conditions? Guess I have no choice." Dodoria flew upwards, making the earthlings think he was running away. "See you in Hell!" He then fired an energy blast straight at the ground, causing the entire area to explode and the terrain turn to dust, falling into the water.

The earthlings and the namekian managed to avoid the blast and were flying right behind Dodoria. Without his scouter, Dodoria had no idea they were only a couple meters behind him. "That's what you get for hiding you little bastards. I'm sure lord Freeza won't mind that I killed them." He then started to fly away.

"Phew, that was way too close. We should get back to the others." Krillin looked down to the namekian child in his arms. "Can you fly, little guy?"

The namekian nodded as he pulled away from Krillin's arms and started flying on his own. "T-Thank you for saving my life."

"Hey, don't mention it. Gohan's the one you want to thank. Never would have had the chance to get you if he hadn't have made the first move." said Krillin.

"Listen, it's great that we saved him, but we should head back and tell the others what happened." suggested Tien.

"Good idea. Any idea where we left them?" Krillin asked. He'd lost his sense of direction in the chase.

Gohan pointed in a specific direction. "I remember. We came from that way!"

Dodoria continued his flight back to Freeza, talking to himself about the recent events. "This is gonna be a pain trying to do this without our scouters. Though now that I think about it, that kid had a scouter. Maybe I should have kept him alive after all."

Dodoria gasps and screams as he takes a serious hit to the back and goes flying down, crashing into the water. He pulls himself out and finds Vegeta and Nappa standing there, both looking quite smug. "What the?! You 2?!

"It's been a long time, wouldn't you agree, Nappa?" asked Vegeta to his compatriot.

"Yeah, I think it has been. Funny meeting you here, Dodoria." said Nappa.

"Why you little! Did you think you could pull a cheap shot like that and just joke it off?!" growled Dodoria, clearly not in the best of moods.

"Well what are you gonna do about it?" asked Vegeta, taking a step forward to intimidate Dodoria, which works. "You're alone, outside the safety of Zarbon and Freeza. Without either of them to get in my way, killing you will be easy."

Dodoria winced a little as he was being threatened by the saiyan prince. "Kill me? A pathetic saiyan like you? You really are in a funny mood. I'll make you a deal. Both of you, give me your scouters. If you do, I'll let you go just this one time."

"Well would you look at that, our hunch was right. The sound cut off because all their scouters got destroyed." said Nappa, smirking as he believed them to have the advantage now. "Looks like our plan will work after all."

"You're right Nappa." said Vegeta. He looked Dodoria dead in the eyes and grinned, pulling off his scouter. "Going back to the nearest base to get more scouters would cost you several days, so I'm sure you want them pretty badly." He then drops his scouter onto the ground, signalling Nappa to do the same.

Dodoria smiled nervously as Vegeta seems to be accepting the deal. "Finally come to your senses? Took you long enough to realize who's in charge. If you're lucky, lord Freeza might take you back."

Vegeta smirked as he stepped on his scouter and fired a small beam at Nappa's scouter, destroying both of the devices.

Dodoria flinched as he watched the scouters be destroyed. "Are you insane, Vegeta?! Why the hell would you go and destroy them?!"

"I didn't need mine anymore. And I sure as hell wasn't gonna let you swipe one from Nappa." answered Vegeta.

"You're a moron! Without it, you won't know where to find the rest of the dragon balls, nor know where lord Freeza or the namekians are!" shouted Dodoria.

Vegeta chuckled at the statement. "Now, I would have agreed with you before my little trip to Earth. The fighters there had an ability to sense a person and judge their strength without a scouter. Raditz learned this trick along with his brother, so I thought I could do it too."

Dodoria just stared at Vegeta, completely dumbfounded. Nappa on the other hand looked surprised and excited. "So that's what you had up your sleeve. You must not have told me because there was a chance you'd be heard, right?"

Vegeta turns his head to looks at Nappa, a bit impressed with the accurate assumption. "That's right, Nappa." He turned his sights back on Dodoria. "Once you know the trick, it's quite easy to learn. Though a simple brute like you and Freeza, who only aim for power, could never figure it out."

"So that's it! Those bastards that got the drop on me were earthlings, weren't they? You teamed up with them, didn't you?!" Dodoria yelled out.

Both the saiyans looked at each other, then back at Dodoria. "Earthlings? You think mentioning them is gonna save you?" asked Nappa. He knew he himself couldn't take on Dodoria alone, but didn't have to be scared since he was on Vegeta's side.

"He's right. There's no way a human could make it all the way here. Even if they did, they'd be my top priority." declared Vegeta.

Dodoria grunts as he needs to get out of this situation fast. "Look, you're wasting my time! I need to get back to lord Freeza and report to him! Get lost, unless you want to die!"

"Letting us go now? I think he's just scared and wants to run away." said Nappa, crossing his arms.

"I think you're right Nappa. Their scouters must have read my power when I killed Cui, and must have read that I had gotten even stronger then even Dodoria." Vegeta grinned and clenched his fists.

Dodoria widened his eyes and raised his hands into the air. "There's no way those reading were right! You're still just a weakling!" He fired a powerful blast of energy, at the saiyans, creating a large explosion. He then followed up with a rapid flurry of blasts.

"Did you really think a simple attack like that was gonna work on us?" said Vegeta, who was now standing behind Dodoria without a scratch on him.

Dodoria growled and swung his body around with his arm out, trying to hit the saiyan prince. Vegeta grabbed Dodoria's arm and completely stopped the force build behind the swing. The saiyan then hopped over Dodoria and grabbed his other arm, pulling them both back, causing pain to Dodoria. Nappa came in with a sneak attack from above and slammed his fists into Dodoria's head. "Gah!"

"Pathetic! We saiyans get stronger after every battle and gain strength from every injury we recover from! The stronger the opponent, the more powerful we become! And after being broken beyond belief on Earth, our power has grown beyond a level we could even dream of!" shouted Vegeta, holding Dodoria in place as Nappa continued to attack Dodoria.

Dodoria coughs up a little blood and and grits his teeth. "W-Wait! If you let me go, I'll tell you a secret! A secret about what really happened to planet Vegeta!"

Both the saiyans stopped what they were doing. Vegeta let Dodoria go. "What are you talking about? What secret could there possibly be on this subject?"

Dodoria wiped the blood from his mouth and tended to his shoulders. "What guarantee do I have that you won't just kill me once I've told you?"

"We'll kill you anyway if you don't start talking now!" shouted Nappa.

Dodoria flinched. Despite being stronger than Nappa, the saiyan elite seemed to have gotten exponentially stronger since the last time they met. "Well you see, planet Vegeta wasn't destroyed by a massive asteroid like we told you it was.

Vegeta narrows his eyes as he hears this news. He remembers that a long time ago, Nappa had told him the same thing. "Excuse me?"

Dodoria smirked as he took a single step backwards. "By itself, a saiyan's power is nothing to lord Freeza. But a bunch of them working together could present a problem." He then started to fly into the air, very slowly backing away. "A small number of saiyan brats were being born with incredible power much like your own, and those numbers were growing. Lord Freeza knew it was only a matter of time before the saiyans rebelled, so he took matters into his own hands and destroyed Planet Vegeta and all its inhabitants!"

Vegeta just stood there in silence. Nappa walked up to try and speak to the prince, but Dodoria continued to talk. "You should feel greatful to lord Freeza! He knew your potential as the prince of the saiyan race would become very useful to him, so he waited till you were off planet to take you in. Nappa and that weakling Raditz were just lucky to not have been on planet when it happened."

Nappa grit his teeth and shook his fist as Dodoria brought up Raditz's name. Ever since the battle on Earth, the saiyan elite couldn't get that low-class saiyan and his words out of his head.

Dodoria continued to back away as the 2 saiyans had been quiet for quite a while at this point. "Sorry if this was a bit too much information for you to process. I'll just return to lord Freeza and tell him everything.

"Don't get me wrong, Dodoria. I don't care what happened to planet Vegeta or any of its people, not even my parents. I'm just furious that you used me my whole life like some tool!" Vegeta smiled wickedly as the veins in his head started to pop out.

Dodoria widened his eyes and turned around immediately, flying away as fast as he can. "Lord Freeza!"

Vegeta fired an energy blast after Dodoria, the beam quickly catching up the brutish alien and completely vaporizes him once it reaches him. "So Freeza is afraid of the potential of saiyans? Now that is the best news I've heard all day."

Nappa walked up to Vegeta. "You've gotten a lot stronger, Vegeta. I bet you could even crush Zarbon at this point."

Vegeta nodded and stared at his hand. "Even I'm surprised by my new strength. Perhaps there was some good out of going to Earth after all." Vegeta stared off to where Dodoria died, something bothering him.

"You also thinking that he might not have been lying about the earthlings?" asked Nappa.

Vegeta nodded again. "I do sense 3 rather high power levels flying away. If they weren't namekians, there's a chance they really were earthlings. Regardless of what they, if they get in our way, you know what to do."

"Maybe we should go pay them a visit. If they really are earthlings, I want to give them a proper thank you." Nappa chuckled as he cracked his knuckles.

"Hmph, very well. I suppose we have some time to lose before finding the rest of the dragon balls." Vegeta turned to where the high power was coming from."Stay close. If you get lost, I'm not coming back for you." He then started flying off in the direction of the earthlings, Nappa close behind.

As they were flying to the cave where Bulma and Yamcha were at, the 3 inhabitants of Earth sensed 2 large powers coming right for them. "What the heck?! Something's coming straight for us!" shouted Krillin. "Quick, hide!"

All of them dove down and ducked under a small cliff. Once they felt they were properly hidden, they dropped their power and left the rest to luck. "You don't think that big guy got one of his friends and had a spare scouter, do you?" asked Tien.

Krillin turned to Gohan. "Gohan, you didn't accidentally drop that other scouter you picked up earlier, did you?"

Gohan reached into a pocket and pulled out the second scouter he collected earlier. "It's right here."

Vegeta came to an abrupt stop as the 3 power levels he was sensing earlier completely vanished. Nappa stopped right behind him. "What's the matter, Vegeta?"

The prince groans and looked around. "Those things I was sensing earlier just vanished. They were right around here but I can't feel a thing."

Gohan looks around the cliffside and widens his eyes as he sees the sight of the 2 saiyans that attacked. "G-Guys, look up there."

Both Krillin and Tien took a look and went into an internal panic. _T-The saiyans?! So they really are here! This is the worst possible scenario._

The saiyans flew out of sight, allowing Gohan to sigh in relief. "They don't seem to know where we are. They also aren't wearing those scouters like they were on Earth."

"Then how is he able to find us?" wondered Krillin, holding tightly on the namekian kid.

Vegeta continued to look around, still unable to sense the power he felt earlier. "Damn, don't tell me I'm still getting used to this power sensing trick and made a mistake."

"Maybe we should have just killed Dodoria without destroying the scouters after all." said Nappa, feeling a bit useless as he's just trying to figure out how to pull of this trick himself.

Vegeta picked up on something that caught his attention and turned to the cliffside where the earthlings were hiding. "There's a faint power down there. Go check it out."

"Ah, you don't think he's learned how to sense energy like we can, do you?!" asked Krillin. "If that's it, then we're in trouble! This little guy can't hide his energy like we can!"

Gohan widened his eyes as he saw Nappa closing in on their location. "Uh oh, the big saiyan is coming this way!"

Krilling braced himself to be caught. _If we're caught, we'll have no choice but to fight. We have the number advantage, but Vegeta knows all our techniques. We'll be killed!_

Nappa stopped as a large fish conveniently hopped out of the water right next to where the earthlings were. He turned back to Vegeta. "It was just a fish, Vegeta!"

Vegeta grunted as and shook his head. "We don't have time for this. We need to get our hands on the last 2 dragon balls. If we can just hide one of them away, Freeza won't be able to make his wish. Then we just have to wait to swipe all the balls he's got."

The saiyans then flew away, letting all the earthlings the chance to breathe again. "That was too close!" declared Tien.

"I thought we were goners. That thing in the water saved our butts." Krillin laughed nervously as he wiped his forehead.

"We should head back to Bulma and Yamcha. They're probably worried sick." said Tien as he stood back up.

Krillin and Gohan nodded. They all started hopping back to the cave, landing nearby. Krillin sighed and looked down. "You know, this might sound harsh, but I wish we'd never came to this planet. I know that isn't fair to Goku's brother, but it won't be worth it if we just end up dead ourselves."

Gohan looked ahead and saw the cave. "Ah, there it is!" He ran ahead, holding the namekian's hand the entire way.

"Hmm, they aren't here." said Tien as he saw nobody in the entrance of the cave where they left them. "Maybe they went deeper in."

As they walked in, Krillin called out for them. "Bulma! Yamcha! Where are you?!" As he turned his head, he saw a small house inside the cave, the 'Capsule Corp' logo on the front. "Oh sweet, they set up a capsule house."

Bulma opened the door and poked her head out. "Oh, hey guys. Glad you're back. Yamcha was just talking about going to find you guys."

Yamcha stepped out and waved to the guys. "Thanks for saving me the trip. Though your energies were all over the place. What the heck happened?"

Before the guys could answer, Bulma took notice of the namekian child standing behind Gohan. "Hey, what's with the short-looking Piccolo? Is that a namekian? Did something happen?"

"It's a long story. We'll fill you in. First, let's get inside." Krillin said.

"Oh, that reminds me. Dad gave me some great news." said Bulma, catching everyone's attention.

"Yeah, Goku's taken off from Earth and will be here in 6 days!" shouted Yamcha in excitement.

The 3 fighters who just got back looked completely confused at this prospect.

"Yeah. apparently my dad found the ship that brought Goku to Earth when he was a baby. Dad rebuilt it and now he and Piccolo are on their way here." said Bulma.

"There's more though. Mr. Briefs says that Goku and Piccolo are gonna do some insane training that'll make them incredibly strong." Yamcha looked quite excited.

The others went wide-eyed and smiled. Krillin leaped into the air with joy, Gohan grabbed the namekian kid's hands and started dancing with him in excitement, though the namekian was just confused, and Tien just stood there, smiling.

"Oh man. Whatever training they're doing, if it's those 2, we might actually pull this off." said Krillin, getting his hopes up and forgetting the dangers just for a moment.

Meanwhile in space, Goku and Piccolo were continuing their training almost non-stop, pushing each other beyond their limits in intense conditions of heavy gravity.

Though they weren't the only one going through intense training. Back on King Kai's training, Raditz was mimicking Krillin's technique by making a literal rain of energy and dodging each of them while wearing very heavy weights. He isn't able to dodge all of the blasts but is able to keep standing and grunting.

King Kai walks up with a wet towel and hands it to Raditz. "Hey, so I know you want to get stronger very quickly, but could you not blow several holes into my planet? It isn't all that big to begin with."

Raditz takes the towel and looks around him, seeing many craters around him. "Oh, right. I got used to training in that wasteland. But it'll be fine. You can fix it."

"That's not the point!" shouted King Kai. "This is my planet! You can't just waltz in here and just start crashing it as much as you want!"

Raditz glared at King Kai and aimed his hand in the kai's face. "You know how much stronger I am than you. Just deal with it and keep fixing this planet until I'm gone."

King Kai stares at Raditz's hand and trembled. "R-Right. I-I'll get right on that. Just don't push yourself too hard. Otherwise your body will be too exhausted by the time they bring you back to life."

Raditz dropped his weights from his body, the weight crashing down into the dirt. "I'll be fine, I'd say I'm done with physical training. I need to keep up on that spiritual training if I'm gonna keep an edge on the other saiyans."

King Kai looked at Raditz and smiled. "Then perhaps I could help with that. You might not be pure enough to pull off the Spirit Bomb, but perhaps I could help you create a new technique."

Raditz turned around to face King Kai and grinned. "Is that right? Fine, but I want to learn something more to go along with an idea I had."

King Kai got a little nervous by Raditz's eagerness, but knows the saiyan is reformed enough to trust him. "Name your price."

* * *

 **And once again, another chapter done. The Namek saga is a bit of a slow burn in my eyes, but then again it is Namek. I wanted to give Raditz some spotlight but wasn't sure how to write King Kai for it so if you have any problems with how I wrote that part, let me know. Also, I know a couple of my biggest supporters have suggested to use Dende's brother in this story, but I couldn't see any way to save him since he's the first to die and canonically Freeza killed him. I really wanted to use Cargo for something, but this is probably for the best. Anyway, this is it for me. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	12. Things worsen Race for the last ball

As Vegeta and Nappa were seemingly flying around aimlessly, Vegeta sensed a rather large cluster of energy not too far away. "It's our lucky day, Nappa! I sense about 20 beings in that direction!" He started making his way in that direction, with Nappa close behind.

"You don't mind if I deal with them myself, do you? Dodoria left me in a bad mood and I need to vent." requested Nappa.

"Do as you wish. Just don't blow the whole village up. Last thing we need is you destroying the dragon ball and broadcasting our location." ordered Vegeta.

The saiyans came to a stop after about a minute of travel and looked down, seeing a small village occupied by namekians. Both of them land and gain the attention of the populace of the village.

"Is the village elder here? We've come to take the dragon ball." said Vegeta, causing the namekians to stare at the aliens in disbelief.

A rather large and old looking namekian walks past the crowd and into view of the saiyans. "I am the elder of this village. I take it you mean the wish orb. What do you want with it?"

"That's none of your business. Just give it to us, and fast." ordered Vegeta, getting rather impatient.

"I cannot give the orb to someone with such evil in their heart such as the 2 of you. Leave our village." demanded the namekian elder.

"We gave you a chance. Nappa, go ahead and vent." said Vegeta, crossing his arms.

Nappa chuckled and started to make the ground quake with his overwhelming power. "With pleasure."

At the cave, the gang were eating boxed lunches. Krillin, Gohan and Tien had just finished explaining everything that happened while they were out.

"So that's what happened huh?" asked Bulma.

"Explains why you guys were changing your power so much." said Yamcha with a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, I honestly thought were goners." said Krillin as he ate his lunch.

"If even one of those guys we ran from could sense energy, we wouldn't have gotten back here." said Tien, already finished with his meal.

Krillin noticed that the namekian kid hadn't even touched the boxed lunch that they offered him. "Hey, I know it probably doesn't look that good, but you're free to eat some food."

"Can you blame him? His entire village just got killed in front of his eyes. I wouldn't have much of an appetite either." Bulma leaned back in her seat, staring at the namekian child.

"Oh, no. That isn't it." the namekian child finally spoke, fidgeting in his seat a little bit. "We namekians only survive off water. We don't really eat these kinds of things."

"Really? Weren't your people growing some kind of vegetable in those fields around your village?" asked Tien.

The namekian shook his head. "I don't really know what a vegetable is, but what you saw growing were ajisa saplings. A long time ago, Namek was thriving with namekians and ajisa trees, but a terrible storm wiped out most of my people and the trees. Our people are working hard to restore Namek's beauty once more."

While listening, a thought occurred to Gohan and decided to ask a question that probably should have been asked a while ago. "Do you mind if we ask you for your name?"

The namekian turned to look at the other child in the room, a little nervous around him after how Gohan had acted at the village. "My name is Dende. Now can I ask you who you all are?"

Before Dende could be given a proper answer, Krillin nearly choked on his drink as he, Gohan, Tien and Yamcha all stiffened up and ran out of the house and out of the cave.

Bulma ran out behind them, not sure what's gotten into them. "Hey, what's the matter with you? Is someone coming this way?"

Krillin shook his head. "No, but I'd say it's worse than that. I'm sensing a lot of energy disappearing."

"Another village is being slaughtered! And the ones doing it are way too familiar." said Yamcha, clenching his fist as he felt useless.

"Y-You don't mean..?" asked Bulma.

Tien nodded. "It's the saiyans. Specifically the larger saiyan. That destructiveness is unmistakable."

"This just proves it. They're able to sense energy now. Which means we'll need to be careful with how we move until Goku and Piccolo show up." said Krillin, gritting his teeth as couldn't do a thing.

"If we could just get our hands on even one of the dragon balls and hide it, they wouldn't be able to make their wish." said Bulma.

"But if we do that, they'll just hunt down the rest of the namekians on the planet." Gohan responded, remembering some of the information Piccolo told him during their training. "The dragon balls will become useless if they kill the one who made them, then nobody will get their wish."

Dende just stood at the cave entrance, both horrified and amazed that they knew so much about the wish orbs, or 'dragon balls' as they keep calling them.

"Either way, we're in trouble, no matter what we do." Tien thought aloud.

"I'm starting to think even Goku won't be able to beat them, even with that intense training." said Krillin. Remembering back to Goku and Piccolo fighting Raditz, he feared that even worse might happen. "I should have killed Vegeta before he could escape."

Dende ran up to the earthlings. "Please, tell me where you come from! I want to know how you know about our 'dragon balls'. Help me save my people!"

Meanwhile, Nappa had finished killing everyone in the village. Well, all except the elder, as per request by Vegeta. "Hmph, they couldn't even provide a decent warm-up."

Vegeta stepped up to the elder of the village, who was holding one of his slain kin. "You're not gonna give us the dragon ball, are you?"

"Heartless monsters! How could you kill our people without a thought?" The elder gripped his kin tightly and glared at the saiyans. "As if I would give our sacred treasure to such fiends!"

Vegeta held his hand up and aimed it at the elder. "Such a stubborn fool. I gave you a chance, but if you'd rather join your people in the afterlife, then I'll look for the ball myself." He fired an energy blast at the elder, creating a large explosion and completely incinerating the namekian.

"Wow, not often you get yourself involved in such unnecessary grunt work." said Nappa as he started walking through the village checking inside the buildings. "Dodoria is one thing, but I could have handled these weaklings just fine."

Vegeta also started moving through the village, doubling the area in which they look for the dragon ball. "You might be right, but Zarbon's still out there. I'd like to be ready for when I crush him."

"Being cautious? That's a new one." said Nappa, looking inside a namekian house and seeing something that catches his eye, going in to get it.

"Hmph, I underestimated the earthlings when we fought them. Even Kakarot and Raditz were something we didn't expect. I won't let myself be humiliated like that again." After his little monologue, he noticed Nappa wasn't even in sight to hear it. "Nappa? Where did you go?!" Took him only a moment to remember he can sense energy and sensed Nappa's energy.

Nappa came out of the namekian hut, carrying a rather large orange sphere in his hand. "Sorry, I just thought you'd like to know what I found."

Vegeta went wide-eyed as he stared at the object his partner had found. "So this must be a dragon ball. Where'd you find it?"

Nappa laughed as he was asked the question. "You'd never believe it, they just had it up on display! Didn't even bother to hide it." Nappa finished his laughing and stared into the ball. "If they're all this easy to find, you'd wonder why Freeza even goes through the trouble of asking the namekians for them."

Vegeta scoffed and took the ball from his partner. "We both know Freeza is as sadistic as they come. He'd destroy every nerve in a person's body before killing them just for a few laughs."

"Right, I forget that sometimes. So, where to next?" asked Nappa.

Vegeta tossed the dragon ball into the water, glad to see it sink down. "With the ball underwater, nobody but us will know how to find it. Since Freeza has 5 of the dragon balls, we may as well go find the last one."

"Sounds like a plan." Nappa flew into the air with Vegeta following behind and then taking the lead. "I can't wait to see the look on Freeza's face when we become immortal."

While all that had gone down, the earthlings had explained everything to Dende: Kami, how they know about the dragon balls and their reason for being on Namek.

"So that's it. I think I understand. Please, one of you, come with me to meet the grand elder!" shouted Dende, his tone of voice having a sense of urgency.

Everyone looked rather puzzled and it was Bulma who decided to ask. "Who's this grand elder guy?"

"He is the eldest namekian and the sole survivor of the calamity that befell our world." said Dende. "He is the one who gave life to all those who live on Namek now. I am his 108th child."

"Why do you want us to meet the grand elder? Because we know a guy related to a namekian that survived that storm?" asked Yamcha.

"No, not that. The people who attacked my village had already taken 4 other dragon balls, not including the one in my village." Dende pointed in the direction that the earthlings were looking when they sensed the saiyans attacking a village. "You said my people were being attacked in that direction, right?"

"Yeah, by some saiyans who go by Nappa and Vegeta." said Krillin, unable to sense any of the namekians anymore.

"Though I don't sense them anymore." said Gohan, using the scouter on his face to double check. "There's not a single person left in the village, the saiyans aren't there anymore."

Dende stared at the ground, understanding what this means. "That means there aren't many more namekians left."

"If the saiyans aren't there anymore, that means they must have found the dragon ball. Add that with the 5 that Freeza has, that leaves us with one to get ourselves." said Krillin, noticing the others starting to get a bit nervous. "Dende, does this grand elder guy have the last dragon ball by any chance?"

"Damn, that means we have no time to lose. If Vegeta can sense energy, it's only a matter of time before he finds the grand elder and takes the last dragon ball." says Tien.

"Yeah, and to make things worse, if this grand elder guy is the creator of the dragon balls, then it's likely that the saiyans might kill him, rendering the dragon balls useless." said Bulma, causing Dende to go into a panic.

"Oh no! Then we have to go save the grand elder right away!" shouted Dende.

"Alright, we don't have much time. Show me the way." Before anyone could say they're going, Krillin spoke up. "There's no point in all of us going. Grouping up just makes a bigger target." Everyone nodded in agreement. Krillin then turned back to Dende. "How long would it take to get the grand elder by foot from here?"

"Eh? By foot?" Dende looked off in the distance, trying to figure that out. "By foot, it would take us roughly 30 days."

"What?! We don't have time for 30 days! Guess we have no choice but to fly." said Krillin, quite nervous.

"Be careful guys! Don't go dying on us!" shouted Yamcha as he watched both Dende and Krillin fly off into the distance.

"Think they'll be okay?" asked Tien, contemplating whether he should go anyway.

"We don't really have a choice but to hope so, do we?" Bulma sighed in went back inside. Gohan stared off in the direction Krillin left before turning around and following Bulma.

Deep in space, Goku and Piccolo were training quite vigorously, having quickly adjusted to 15 times earth's gravity in just the span of half a day. Once they decided to take a break, Goku walked over to the control panel. "Alright, looks like we've gotten the hang of this level of gravity. Hey Piccolo, think we can make the jump to 30 times gravity?"

"Doubling the workload already, huh? Very well, I should be able to handle that level." Piccolo stared at his weighted clothing, lifting it up and grunting at how heavy it is.

"Hello, Goku and Piccolo. Can you hear me?"

Both Goku and Piccolo nearly jumped when they heard a familiar voice ring in their heads. "King Kai, is that you?"

"Great, I have to listen to him too?" muttered Piccolo, not sure if speaking in his head is safe from King Kai.

"Yeah, it's me alright. Took me a while to find you guys. When the heck did you guys make it all the way into space?" asked King Kai, finding it a little hard to concentrate when he could hear Raditz training on the other side of the planet.

"Better question is why are you bothering us when we're in the middle of training to take on the saiyans again." said Piccolo.

"Hey, come on Piccolo, King Kai's been a big help to me." said Goku, watching as Piccolo's only response was to grumble and get a drink of water. "It's a long story. Our friends are stuck on Namek and need my help."

"Oh my, sounds like a real predicament down there. I'll have you fill me in on the details later. I'd have talked with you sooner, though I've had a guest training here." said King Kai.

"You do? Tell me, what's he like? Is he strong?" asked Goku, clearly excited at the idea of someone good enough to train with King Kai.

"Well, you would know. You see-" Before he could finish his sentence, King Kai stumbled as his planet shook like crazy, causing the kai to fall. "Hey Raditz! What did I tell you about beating up my planet?!"

Goku gasped in surprise as King Kai had just said the name of his brother. "Raditz is there?! No way, I thought he went to Hell."

"You mean Kami didn't tell you? He pleaded with King Yemma to let that brother of yours train here. Got here in record time too." King Kai grunted as he walked over to see what the saiyan was doing to cause a quake this crazy. "Took him a whole day to come up with a joke worthy enough for me to train him though."

"Yeah, he doesn't seem like the joking type." said Goku, turning his head to see Piccolo clearly listening with curiosity.

"You would think, but the joke he told me was one of the funniest I've heard. He said-" He was interrupted once more by a quake even worse than the last one. King Kai then ran over to see what was going on and his jaw dropped to see the ground completely scorched and cracked. He also noticed that Raditz's right hand looked broken. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Hey King Kai, mind if I speak to him?" asked Goku, really excited to know what his brother could be doing to put King Kai in a panic.

"What?! Oh, right. He says he doesn't quite want to talk to you yet. He'd rather have a proper conversation face to face." King Kai continued his conversation while patching up Raditz's hand, the saiyan just listening to King Kai talk in silence.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Would be nice to hear how his training is though." Goku sighed and crossed his arms.

"Well, I'll just say it's unlike the training you did while you were here. Wait, back up a bit. You said you and Piccolo were going to Namek to fight the saiyans?" asked King Kai, sweat starting to drip from his forehead.

"Yeah, what about it? We also heard there's someone stronger than Vegeta. Once we're done with the saiyans, we'll be taking care of him next." said Piccolo, finally rejoining the conversation.

"What?! No, absolutely not! Goku, this is an order, you are to not go anywhere near Freeza! He is in a league all his own, you don't stand a chance against someone like him!" shouted King Kai, hurting Raditz's ears.

"Hmph, and what are you gonna do about it? Besides, with how powerful Goku became training in 10 times gravity, there's no chance in hell that this Freeza guy will stand a chance against the both of us." said Piccolo, grinning at his own assumption, unaware what Freeza is really like.

Raditz grit his teeth and grabbed hold of King Kai so that he could speak directly to Piccolo. "Now listen to me, Piccolo! You have absolutely no idea what you're up against!"

Piccolo growled as he heard Raditz's voice scream inside his head. "Raditz? I thought you weren't gonna talk to us until you were brought back."

"That's for a proper conversation to Kakarot! Don't go anywhere near Freeza!" screamed Raditz, his aggressive voice causing King Kai to tremble. "Remember when both of you faced off against me and you were completely powerless unless you grabbed my tail? Well this is the same thing only a million times worse and without that weakness to take advantage of!"

Piccolo stiffened a bit and remembered how one-sided the fight against Raditz was. "So what do you expect us to do? Just cower and pray that this Freeza guy will give us mercy?"

"Freeza can't sense energy like all of you can. If you're smart enough, you can make your way around Namek without him even knowing you're there." said Raditz, calming down a bit and letting go of King Kai.

"Y-Yes. Raditz is right. You're free to take on the saiyans, but avoid Freeza at all costs. No exceptions. That means you too Goku." said King Kai before cutting off the communication. He then sighs and looks Raditz in the eyes. "You're quite worried about them, aren't you?"

Raditz growled and turned his head away. "Of course I am! I may not have any attachment to Kakarot yet, but I've grown quite close to his son. Those 2 are considered family, something I thought nothing of till I spent time with the little runt."

King Kai chucked at how soft the saiyan was being. "Well, I won't fault you for growing a heart. Now then, what the hell did you do to my planet and your hand?!"

After King Kai had cut off the communication, Goku had gotten a little giggly. "Oh man, Raditz training with King Kai, and even harder than I did. It's gotten me so excited!"

"Let's not forget what they said. As much as it pains me to say it, those 2 are right, we should avoid this Freeza guy." said Piccolo, showing a calm facade as he was still a little shaken by what Raditz had said.

"Yeah, but just because we were told not to try and fight Freeza doesn't mean we can't keep getting stronger." He went over to the gravity controls. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's pump it up right to 50 times gravity."

Piccolo nodded as he had no objections to this, though regretted his decision as he nearly collapsed on the ground when Goku turned up the gravity. _6 and a half more days. Hopefully we have enough senzu beans for this._

Back on Namek, Krillin and Dende continued their journey to the grand elder. The whole time, Krillin was nervous and kept his sense sharp to watch out for Vegeta or any of Freeza's goons. "Hey, how long do you think it'll take at this speed?"

"I think we'll reach there within 5 or 6 hours." shouted Dende.

Krillin muttered as he tried thinking. "5 hours huh? Maybe I should just grab him and book it as fast as I can."

Vegeta and Nappa were flying around as well, but without a set destination. "What the hell's going on. I don't sense anymore clusters of energy but Freeza's grunts. Shouldn't there be at least one more village?"

"You don't think Freeza could have found it by luck, do you?" asked Nappa, blindly following Vegeta's word since he hasn't quite grasped this energy sensing nonsense.

Vegeta stopped suddenly without warning. Nappa stopped too, though a little too close, nearly running into Vegeta. "Odd, there are 2 powers on the move. One of them feels like a namekian, the other one doesn't but also doesn't feel like one of Freeza's men. We need to investigate."

"If you say so." said Nappa, following Vegeta as he bolted towards the energies.

Krillin sensed the saiyan's direction change and come right for them. "Dende, stop! The saiyans know where we are, they're coming right for us!" He grabbed Dende and flew down, trying to get to some cliffs to hide like last time. After he successfully hid, he noticed the saiyans suddenly change direction before he could even lower his energy. "There's another large energy out there. They're going after it."

Nappa was rather confused why Vegeta just up and changed direction so drastically, nowhere near the direction they were going before. "Vegeta, what's going on? Did you find another village?"

"Even better! Zarbon's all alone. This is our chance to take care of him once and for all!" shouted Vegeta as a silhouette was visible in the distance.

The figure in the distance stopped when they saw the saiyans come towards him, the figure indeed being Zarbon. The saiyans stopped in front of Freeza's henchmen, grinning.

"Well well well, if it isn't Freeza's right hand man. It's been a long time. But I'm afraid I'll have to cut this reunion short. You're about to die next." said Vegeta, staring at Zarbon with such confidence, leaving the alien a bit frightened.

"N-Next? You mean you killed Dodoria?!" shouted Zarbon, a little panicked at his current situation.

* * *

 **And once again, another chapter done. Hope you guys liked what you read. I quite like writing the parts with King Kai and Raditz. In his current state, Raditz is like a lump of clay that I can carefully mold into a character that'll fit in well with the rest of the story while building up some of the things I have planned for future events. I mean, that's just me, you guys might not be a fan of it. To each their own. I don't have a lot to say this time so that'll be it for me. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	13. The Warrior Race's comeback

"Y-You really think I'd fall for such a bluff? Even with the both of you, there's no way you could have taken down Dodoria." said Zarbon, knowing full well that the saiyans before him would be capable of the task. _Damn, this could be really bad. As much as it disgusts me, I may have to transform._

"You really think we would bluff about something like this?" asked Nappa, grinning as he prepared to fight.

"If you think that sounds like a bluff, then you'll dread to hear that we didn't even break a sweat to do it. Well, at least I didn't." said Vegeta, looking at his partner, who just shrugs off the comment.

Zarbon shook a bit as he stared the saiyans down. "Why have you 2 turned on Lord Freeza? What could you possibly hope to gain from this?"

"Hmph, Nappa. Care to fill him in?" Vegeta asked his underling.

Nappa cleared his throat before speaking. "It's quite simple Zarbon. We've always hated Freeza, even before he destroyed our planet. The upper class like us being treated like dogs to you doesn't quite promote trust. We've only done as you asked because we were no match you before. But now that our power has jumped up considerably and the chance at immortality has arisen, we have no reason to listen to you anymore."

Zarbon narrowed his eyes as he understands completely. "You know what happened to your planet? That means you really did Dodoria in. And you're here for the dragon balls it seems."

"We were after them first, I'll be damned if I let that bastard get his hands on them and attain immortality for himself." said Vegeta, clenching his fists in anger. "Once we're immortal, we'll be sure to slaughter that bastard Freeza once and for all."

Zarbon stares at the saiyans and simply chuckles. "Do you really think immortality is all you'll need to beat Lord Freeza? Lord Freeza possesses power you couldn't even dream of."

"Do you really think we'll buy that crap?! Dodoria told us that Freeza fears the potential of saiyans! Allow us to show you just how far that potential has brought us!" shouted Vegeta, pushing out his power, causing Zarbon to stagger a bit before regaining composure.

"Is that what Dodoria told you?" Zarbon smiled as he looked at Nappa, preparing to go after the weaker saiyan to decrease the traitors' numbers. "Freeza was afraid of a large-scale revolt. The 2 of you are insignificant, hardly worth anything to fear.

Nappa glared at Zarbon and grinned. "You're about to regret saying that."

Vegeta seemingly vanished in a burst of speed, though Zarbon was able to keep track of where Vegeta went. He turned to his left and threw a punch to where Vegeta reappeared, though Vegeta was able to catch the punch. He then threw Zarbon upwards with great strength.

Zarbon stopped himself and prepared to fire one of his signature attacks when he noticed a light getting brighter and closer from below. He looked down to see one of Nappa's energy blasts coming his way and was forced to dodge out of the way, only to be assaulted by Vegeta, crashing into a lake. A few seconds pass before he rises out of the water, gasping for breath as he underestimated the saiyans. "This is unexpected. You 2 have never been known to work together in this fashion."

Vegeta scoffed as he and Nappa started flying downward to meet Zarbon eye-to-eye."Don't read to much into it. He may have gotten stronger, but he's not quite able to take you on himself. He hasn't been in a good mood after Earth so I decided to throw him a bone."

"Awe come on Vegeta, don't go making me sound pathetic now. Not when we're so close to immortality." shouted Nappa before firing a surprise beam attack at Zarbon, catching the alien off guard and dealing a decent blow.

Zarbon growled as he was easily being cornered by the saiyans. _I don't understand. I could possibly see this kind of growth from Vegeta, but Nappa's just as strong as Vegeta was before, if not more. I have no choice._ "You filthy saiyans think you're so powerful, but I'm afraid you've underestimated me as well. You've forced me to unleash this power of mine that I've kept locked away for so long.

Vegeta simply chuckled as he heard the words come from Zarbon's mouth. "We underestimated you? What nonsense, nothing but empty bluffs. You just plan to run back to Freeza, just like Cui and Dodoria did."

"I see no reason to keep quiet about it when neither of you will be leaving here alive. You see, I'm capable of transformation that can increase my power level. However, it is rather unsightly so I choose not to use it. Though I suppose I'd rather choose to give up my beauty in exchange for my life." said Zarbon.

This time it was Nappa who laughs, more so than Vegeta. "Capable of transformation to increase your power? How utterly convenient considering that's exactly what saiyans are capable of!"

"Well, my transformation doesn't make me absolutely enormous like you saiyans do, but the power boost it gives me is nothing to laugh at." Zarbon chuckles this time, hoping the saiyans would take the bait.

"Very well, if you're so insistent in showing off this 'transformation', then let's see it. Consider it your final gift." said Vegeta, crossing his arms.

Zarbon grinned as he had gotten what he wanted. "You're gonna regret saying that." mocked Zarbon. In a mere instant, his face turned into that of a monster, his body expanding in size and each of his fingers gaining claws. Without a moment's hesitation, he rushed toward Vegeta and grabbed the saiyan's head before he could dodge, ramming his head against Vegeta's.

Nappa watched in horror and knew he couldn't stand by. He rushed forth to go help his superior, but Zarbon used Vegeta as a weapon and slammed the prince into the saiyan elite, sending Nappa flying into a cliffside.

Zarbon then threw Vegeta up into the air. Vegeta stopped himself and immediately charged at Zarbon in a blind rage. Zarbon flew up to the saiyan and both of them slugged each other in the face, creating a shockwave that caused a couple of rock formation to crumble apart. Each of them flew backwards and stopped themselves. Zarbon barely looked more damaged than he was when he initially transformed, but Vegeta was having trouble breathing and his forehead was still bleeding from the blow earlier.

Vegeta quivered in pain as he stared down the monster in front of him, almost not noticing Nappa flying up to his side. _This is impossible. I don't understand, how could we be losing to Zarbon of all people? If only Nappa wasn't so weak, then we could- Wait, that's it!_

"This is a new one. The great prince Vegeta is quivering in his boots." said Zarbon, his voice deeper and more gravely than before his transformation. "Since you're gonna die anyway, I may as well tell you now that lord Freeza is also capable of transforming."

Both of the saiyans stiffened when they heard that news. Vegeta growled as he held his hand up and created a small orb of energy. "Well we saiyans are also capable of transformation!" He chucked the sphere into the sky, planning on having Nappa transform into a great ape.

Zarbon went wide-eyed and understood exactly what Vegeta's plan is. "I don't think so!" He aimed his palm at the power ball and fired a beam right at it, destroying the ball and causing Vegeta to gasp in horror as his back-up plan had gone to waste. "Phew, that could have been bad for me."

Nappa managed to understand what was going on as well and took the opportunity to fire his strongest beam from his mouth at Zarbon. The monstrous alien managed to dodge it easily though. "Vegeta, we need to get out of here right now!"

Vegeta grunted and grit his teeth, turning around to face his underling. "You dare suggest we run away? And you dare call yourself a saiyan elite?! You're too weak." He place both his hands against Nappa's chest. "Which means I no longer have any use for you!" Vegeta then fired a rather large beam that fired off into the distance. And when it faded, there was no trace of Nappa left.

Before Vegeta could turn back around, Zarbon grabbed Vegeta by the throat. "I can't tell if you're completely noble or completely foolish. You killed your only ally. Though you did save him the fate of what'll happen to you!" Zarbon aimed Vegeta down to the ground and let go of the prince, only to immediately fire a beam that sends Vegeta crashing into a lake with a large explosion following.

After a couple minutes of silence, Zarbon stared at the water. "I suppose this is for the best. Lord Freeza may have wanted him alive for questioning and/or torture, but perhaps the information of the saiyans' deaths will suffice." Zarbon then transformed back into his usual self and let out a deep breath. "And if Vegeta did survive, there's no chance he'll attempt to fight me again after witnessing my true power." Zarbon then flew off in the approximate direction that Freeza's ship was in.

Soon after Zarbon was gone, Vegeta's hand burst up from the water and pulled the rest of him out, the prince coughing up a water stained with his blood, growling as he gets onto the shore. "Don't you dare underestimate the saiyans! You may think you've won, but I'll come back stronger then ever, and there won't be anything left of you!"

A few hours pass by the time Zarbon makes his way back to the ship. He makes his way to the door leading into Freeza's quarters. "Lord Freeza, it's me."

"Come in, Zarbon."

Zarbon entered the room to see Freeza just floating in the air, staring out the window, the dragon balls just bunched up together in the side of the room. As Zarbon walks in, Freeza turns around and drops to the ground.

"I take it you found another village?" asked Freeza.

"No, I was unable to find another village. I can report that both of the saiyans have been properly taken care of." answered Zarbon.

"Oh my, that means you've transformed for the first time in a long time. I knew those saiyans were a troublesome bunch but to push you that far." Freeza shook his head to get a certain thought out of his mind. "Then I'm to assume you killed them."

"Well, I cannot say that I killed Nappa. Vegeta had gotten quite furious after the damage I dealt to him so he erased his fellow rebel himself." answered Zarbon.

"Vegeta killed his subordinate? With the stakes so high, that's possibly the worst decision a person could make." Freeza thought aloud. He then cleared his throat as he began to speak again. "And what about Vegeta? Don't tell me he offed himself as well."

"No, I made sure to deal with him myself. I gave him a taste of my strongest blast. I couldn't quite locate his body, but even if he's still alive, he'll barely be as his wounds would be incredibly serious." responded Zarbon.

Freeza raised his head as he took in that information. "You didn't confirm his death?"

Zarbon felt himself sweat a little as he recognized that look. "W-Well his body was completely submerged in water. I made sure to wait see if he'd come up but he didn't so I assumed he'd drowned."

Before Freeza could retort in clear irritation, the door to the room opened up and one of the soldiers ran inside. "Lord Freeza! I just found a village that had already been destroyed!"

Both Freeza and Zarbon turned to face the soldier with a look of shock on their faces. "This must be the saiyans' doing. I didn't see either of them with a dragon ball, they must have hid it somewhere."

Freeza narrowed his eyes in anger, making Zarbon quiver. "Zarbon, you are to go retrieve Vegeta. And for your sake, you better hope he's in one piece. With Nappa dead, we are left without any other option." He then turned his focus back to the soldier. "Appule, contact the Ginyu Force and have them bring our replacement scouters. I demand them to be here in no less than 5 days."

The soldier named Appule nodded his head and left the room in a hurry. Zarbon turned around to face Freeza once again, a worried look on his face. "L-Lord Freeza, I mean no disrespect, but I see no reason to call in the Ginyu Force. The namekians pose no threat to us and the saiyans have been properly dealt with."

Freeza turned around to face the window once again. "An ominous feeling has been in the back of my mind for quite some time. The fact that a saiyan capable of becoming a problem for me may one day arise. I'd assumed the prince of the rotten species was the best candidate, but now I'm not so certain anymore."

"Are you certain of this? After all, with both Raditz and Nappa dead, that just leaves that saiyan on Earth and his son. And even then, they were reported to be even weaker than Vegeta." asked Zarbon, not thinking about the consequences of questioning Freeza.

Freeza turned his head to look at Zarbon with quite the terrifying stare. "Are you dare questioning me? I suggest you go find Vegeta. I better not see you again unless it's with a saiyan in hand."

Zarbon shook and immediately bolted out of the ship, flying back in the direction in which he'd fought the saiyans. Once he'd returned, he noticed a body not far from the water in which he'd blasted Vegeta. He landed by the body and sure enough found Vegeta there. "Well well, looks like it's my lucky day. It's lucky that you saiyans are a resilient bunch. Or at least you are, can't quite say the same for your fellow traitor. Now, let's get you patched up. Lord Freeza would like a word with you."

After about a day, Krillin and Dende finally made their way to the Grand Elder's place. Once they landed, the door opened up and a namekian that looked a lot like Piccolo stepped out. "Ah, Nail! You're alive and well!" shouted Dende.

"It's great to see you are alive as well, Dende. And you've brought one of the visitors. Come on in, the Grand Elder is already aware of what's been happening." answered Nail, making his way to turn around and guide them inside.

While Dende and Nail were conversing on why the Grand Elder has decided not to move from this place, Krillin was thinking in his head about how much stronger this namekian is compared to Piccolo, and any other namekian for that matter.

Once the 3 of them went inside, they flew up into a second floor of the building. Dende bowed in a certain direction and when Krillin looked, he saw a giant and and incredibly old looking namekian sitting in a chair with a dragon ball perched on top of it. "Greetings traveler. I congratulate you for making your way here, and to thank you deeply for saving one of my kin."

Krillin chuckles nervously as he's thanked by the enormous namekian. "D-Don't mention it. It wasn't just me who saved him."

The Grand Elder nodded slightly and looked up. "I am still grateful that one of my children could be saved. I've already felt that many of my children have been slain by invaders seeking the wish orbs."

 _Wish orbs? Is that what they call the dragon balls here?_ Krillin wondered before taking a step closer to the Grand Elder. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but I was hoping you could give me that dragon ball above you. If I can hide it away, then they won't be able to make their wish."

"I'd like to vouch for his idea. On our way here, he said that if we're patient enough, they'll use their dragon balls back on Earth to bring back all the namekians who died." said Dende.

The Grand Elder went a bit wide-eyed at this development. Or at least he would have if his eyes could open. "What?! If I've been listening correctly, the invaders were calling our wish orbs dragon balls. But for Earth to have such would mean there's a namekian inhabiting your world!"

"That's right. We learned about the great calamity that befell your planet. But apparently a child namekian escaped and made his way to Earth." Krillin explained, wondering if he should explain the situation between Kami and Piccolo.

"Young man. Step closer so that I may get a better understanding of your situation." requested the Grand Elder. When Krillin stepped closer, the elder placed his hand on top of Krillin's head and read the earthling's past. "I see. So the son of Katats split himself from his own evil. Such a shame to split his prodigious potential. If he were whole again, he may have been able to stop those saiyans that attacked your planet."

Krillin just looked dumbfounded at the Grand Elder understanding the situation clearly. _Did.. Did he just read my mind?_ "What do you mean by whole again?"

The Grand Elder seemed to completely ignore the question and reached up, grabbing the dragon ball and handing it to Krillin. "You've proved to be a good person worthy of taking the dragon ball. Though I don't think you'll be able to have that wish of yours fulfilled."

Krillin took the dragon ball and looked up at the Grand Elder. "Why not?"

The Grand Elder returned to his comfortable position. "My time in this life is coming to an end sometime soon. I know not when, but it is rather short. It may be impossible for you to retrieve the other dragon balls from the clutches of the invaders in such a small time frame. And once I die, the dragon balls shall revert to simple stone."

Krillin looked a little shook after hearing that but understood the situation regardless. "I understand. I mean, coming here was kind of the objective anyway, so I'll protect this dragon ball with my life. All of my friends will too."

The Grand Elder smiled at the courage and determination of the young man and figured it would be opportune to help him out. "I must say, you have quite the ordeal of power for an Earthling. I can sense so much of it lying dormant. Allow me to help you tap into it."

Krillin chuckled from being called quite strong for his kind. "Dormant power? You're overestimating me. I've trained intensely my whole life. I've probably reached the peak of my potential."

While Krillin had been busy talking, the Grand Elder had put his hand atop the earthling's head. Once placed, Krillin's power raised up immensely, surprising the earthling. "With this strength, I pray that you'll be able to protect the dragon ball and the hopes of my people." said the Grand Elder.

Krillin couldn't contain his excitement at his newfound power, leaping in the air for joy. "Wow! This is awesome! I feel like a whole new person!" A thought occured to Krillin and turned back to the Grand Elder. "Hey, are you able to tap into anyone's untapped power? Even a small child?"

"Hmm? Why yes. I just provide the trigger to open up the well of untapped power in a person. If the dormant energy is there, I can open it up for anyone." answered the Grand Elder.

"Alright, I'll be back with a couple of my friends. They're all bound to have a crazy amount of untapped power." said Krillin. He then turned to Dende. "You should stay here Dende. I'll be back with everyone else." He then flew out of the the namekian house and straight back to the others at top speed, overwhelmed with excitement at his newfound power and speed.

Elsewhere on Planet Namek, in the middle of a destroyed village, a saiyan wakes up in pain. He grunts as he struggles to sit up. "Damn it Vegeta. I don't know if you were trying to kill me or just knock me away, but you could have killed me anyway." He growled and got back to his feet and looked around. "Wait, this is the village we attacked. Why'd he shoot me this far away?"

Nappa got an odd feeling all of a sudden and felt like something was coming his way. He didn't know if he was delirious from the pain or if someone was coming, but he didn't want to take his chances and hid inside one of the buildings, too damaged to take any chances. As he peaked out, he went wide-eyed as he noticed Kakarot's son just floating in the air.

Gohan stared at the destroyed village and the countless dead bodies. He gripped his shirt tightly and tried to take deep breaths as his anger was starting to well up inside him again."Just calm down. I need to find the dragon ball that the saiyans weren't able to find." He looked down to check the dragon radar when he noticed that there was a living energy nearby. "Hello? Are you a namekian survivor? There's no need to be afraid, I won't hurt ya."

Nappa held his breath as Gohan clearly knew he was there. _This is bad. I'm in no shape to go fighting Kakarot's son. I have no choice but to hope the runt is forgiving._ "Alright, I'm coming out." Nappa stumbled out of the building and stared down at the half-saiyan, who looked shocked and a bit scared. "Relax weakling, I'm in no shape to go fighting you right now."

Gohan could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his anger acting up more as he sees the saiyan in front of him. "Why should I believe that you won't attack me when I turn around. You didn't spare these namekians here, why should I believe you'll give me mercy?!"

Nappa grunted as the pain from his wounds caused him to drop to one knee. "Do I look like I'm in any sort of condition to attack you right now? Besides, I have bigger problems to worry about right now."

"So do I." Gohan turned his back to the saiyan and dived down into the water. He used the dragon radar to pick up on the dragon ball's location and swims to where the ball is. Once he finds it, he realizes he'll need to find a way for the saiyan not to see him. He fires 2 separate energy blasts towards the center of the water and then grabs the ball. When to 2 blasts collide, they create a large splash that provides as cover for Gohan to fly with the dragon ball, leaving Nappa unaware that he'd made off with the dragon ball. Or at least that's what he thought.

The moment Gohan had splashed into the water where Vegeta had tossed the dragon ball, Nappa was suspicious to what the runt was doing. Once Gohan had created the giant splash and flew out of the short range in which Nappa could newfoundly sense energy, he immediately knew what was going on. "You little bastard! Get back here with our dragon ball!" He attempted to fly off after the brat but fell back to his knee in pain. "Damnit. This is bad. If these wounds don't kill me, Vegeta will. If he made it out alive against Zarbon."

Meanwhile, Bulma, Tien and Yamcha were waiting patiently for either Krillin or Gohan to return. Bulma just sat on a rock and was reading a book while Tien and Yamcha were sparring. In the middle of their spar, they sensed 3 energies getting close, incredibly strong ones.

"Bulma, get inside! Now!" shouted Yamcha as he got into a fighting stance, Tien following suit as they saw Krillin in the distance, flying towards him.

"What power. Is that really Krillin?" Tien shook those thoughts off as he focusses on what's really important: the 2 monstrous energies following behind Krillin. "Did he lose his senses?! How can he not feel that?!"

Bulma knew better than to stay outside when these experienced fighters were both in a panic. She grabbed her book and the scouters that she'd been working on earlier and ran inside the cave.

Krillin finally landed and looked at the others, kind of confused as to why they're giving him such angry looks. Didn't take him long to realize as he feels a deadly presence closing in on them right from where he came from. "N-No way! The saiyans?! I was too blinded by my new strength to notice them!"

Vegeta landed on the ground and took in the view of 3 familiar faces as well as the dragon ball. "Now isn't this a nice reunion. I honestly didn't think a weak species like yours to have the technology necessary to get you here in such a short amount of time. I don't know what you could possibly want with the namekian dragon balls when you have a set on Earth, but it doesn't really matter to me since I'll be taking that ball from you."

The earthlings just stood there in fear as they could all tell just how powerful Vegeta is now compared to their fight on Earth. Tien was about to attempt to perform a Solar Flare when he remembered Vegeta would catch up to them anyway as well as they'd need to grab Bulma.

Vegeta turned his eyes away from the earthlings to address the power coming their way. "But I'll give you the honor of holding onto it for me. There's something I need to take care of." He turned around just in time to watch Zarbon land.

Zarbon shook his head to throw his ponytail behind him as he stared down the saiyan. "I must say Vegeta, you've really angered Freeza this time. I can't remember the last time I saw him so furious." Zarbon looked behind him and saw the earthlings, recognizing 2 of them. "I see, so those pathetic creatures that got the drop on us before were working with you, right?"

Vegeta wasn't quite sure what he was referring to, but played it off regardless. "As if, why would I need help from such useless weaklings like them?"

Zarbon chuckled a bit. "You're right. After all, you did kill Nappa even in such a desperate situation. Either way, what I really want is for you to tell me where you put the dragon balls you stole. You can either tell me willingly, or I can beat it out of you along with your blood."

Vegeta smirked as he could already tell Zarbon was getting overconfident. "Why don't we see if you can?"

Zarbon clenched his fists as Vegeta had chosen to be stubborn. "We'll see just how long that bravado lasts." Once again, Zarbon transforms into his monstrous form. Seeing this sight caused the earthlings to freak out as they not only saw the alien transform, but also his energy went up dramatically.

"W-Whoa! You guys feel that too?! What kind of monster is this guy?!" shouted Yamcha as he backed up in fear. The other 2 remained silent as nothing else needed to be said about how terrifying this situation was.

Zarbon let out a mighty roar as he charged at Vegeta, attempting to hit the saiyan with a swipe of his massive arm, only for the saiyan to drop to the ground immediately. After he missed the swing, Zarbon used his other arm to throw a powerful punch against the ground, creating a small crater as the saiyan had once again dodged and flew into the air.

Once Zarbon finds where Vegeta had run off to, he chased after the prince. Vegeta let go of some dirt that he'd grabbed when he was on the ground, watching as it lands in Zarbon's eyes and blinds the alien. The saiyan then gets behind Zarbon and throw a devastating punch against the alien's back, creating a sizable whole in the armor and sending Freeza's henchman flying. Vegeta didn't let up however as he flies after Zarbon and then slams him across the head, launching Zarbon into the water, creating a very large splash. Even then, he didn't let up as he fired a barrage of energy at where he submerged Zarbon.

The earthlings figured this would be a good time to get out of here. They figured Bulma would be safe if they got away from the cave and started trying to fly off. Vegeta, however, was quick to notice the earthlings trying to escape and sent a couple of warning shots in front of the earthlings before returning his aim at Zarbon.

While Vegeta had momentarily taken focus off of Zarbon, the alien took the chance to fly out of the water after Vegeta, dodging the blasts of energy coming at him. Vegeta didn't stay still as Zarbon approached and flew off to the ground, Zarbon right behind him. Once the both of them landed, everyone could see just how damaged Zarbon was. "You are going to pay for this Vegeta!"

"You truly are a fool Zarbon. Aren't you supposed to be a specialist on saiyans?" asked Vegeta, grinning as Zarbon was on the verge of death. "We saiyans get quite stronger when we recover from the verge of death. Healing me was probably the biggest mistake you've made. And letting me send Nappa away was another mistake."

Zarbon went wide-eyed as he's reminded of that trait about saiyans. He was also shocked to hear that Nappa was still alive, meaning that he would also get a power boost once he recovers. "Y-You're bluffing! You've always hated the weak! You would never spare even your partner as long as they're weak!" He then made a foolish rush at the saiyan prince in an attempt for a preemptive strike.

"You overestimate the value and power of a saiyan! The warrior race is superior to any of you!" Vegeta then started trading several rapid attack with Zarbon before eventually penetrating Zarbon's stomach and grinning as he could feel the alien's blood spilling out.

Zarbon coughed up blood as he could barely move, staring down at Vegeta's fist inside his body. "V-Vegeta. I-I was only following Freeza's orders. L-Let me team up with you and Nappa. If we.. Work together, we can defeat Freeza."

Vegeta scoffed at this pathetic excuse of a life form was begging for his life. "Tell you what? I'll give you the honor to greet Freeza when I send him to Hell!" He then fired a short range blast, killing Zarbon instantly and shooting the body into the water. He then turned around to face the earthlings. "Now, where were we?"

* * *

 **And that's another chapter done. I could have made this chapter longer, but the part with Vegeta escaping the ship would have literally no chance whatsoever, plus I'd like to give Nappa just a bit of personal spotlight since he is one of the main focuses in this story. Also, I know it's been a bit longer than usual for me to upload this chapter than usual. I've been job hunting at the moment so that's been taking a good chunk of my time. But to be fair, I did give you a warning at the start of this story that I can't make any promises on updates for this chapter. Regardless, hope you liked this chapter, even if it wasn't one of my personal favorites. That's all from me. Tune in next time for the next chapter.**


	14. The true threat arrives The Ginyu Force

Nappa sat there, trying to figure out a way to be spared from Vegeta's wrath once he finds out that the dragon ball that they'd hidden was taken. "Damnit, I can't believe I let that little brat just get away like that. Think Nappa, how do you get out of this?" He considered running away to somewhere else to make it seem that he hadn't landed here, but remembered that Vegeta could sense energy and would probably notice him leaving if he tried to fly away. He grunted as his wounds were aching again, then got an idea.

The saiyan walked to the doorway and stared off into the distance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before charging up energy in his mouth, collecting all the power he has left before firing a beam into the distance, creating a large explosion in the distance, though nothing close to what he could do at max strength. He started panting for breath as he had no more energy use, struggling to the bed inside the namekian house he was in before collapsing unconscious.

Meanwhile, Vegeta was too preoccupied with the earthlings to sense the energy collecting and disappearing somewhere else. He mainly focused on Krillin with a look of intrigue. "Now this is quite an interesting development. I don't know how, but your power has risen substantially unlike the other 2 behind you. Regardless, you're still no match for me. Now you have a choice, hand over the dragon ball or die here."

Krillin shook as he was given an ultimatum, looking down at the dragon ball in his hands. "This might be pointless to ask, but if I give you the dragon ball, will you leave us be?"

Both Tien and Yamcha stood in shock as Krillin was actually willing to give Vegeta the dragon ball over a deal that the saiyan could easily break. "Krillin, you can't be serious! Don't you remember what this guy is capable of?!"

Vegeta chuckled as the earthling was willing to bargain with him. "So you want to make a deal with me then? I guess I can oblige your request. After all, there's no reason to waste time killing you all."

Krillin chose not to press his luck and handed the dragon ball to Vegeta. The other earthlings just watched with fear, expecting Vegeta to betray their trust and kill them.

"You know, having all of these under my possession has put me in the best of moods." said Vegeta as he turned around and took a few steps away from the earthlings. "Now there's no chance for Freeza to stop me." He then flew off without another word.

Yamcha collapsed on his back and exhaled loudly. "That was too close. I thought we were goners for sure."

"We can't relax yet. Who's to say he won't come back to kill us once he becomes immortal?" asked Tien, putting worry back into Yamcha.

Bulma stepped out of the cave, having eavesdropped on the entire conversation. "D-Did he say he has all of them? T-Then the dragon ball that I sent Gohan after belonged to him!"

The Z-warriors all turned to face her with a look of shock on their faces. "T-This is bad! I can feel Gohan on his way back, and he's headed straight for Vegeta!" shouted Krillin. "Bulma, pack up the capsule house. We need to be ready to leave in case Gohan manages to get back here with the dragon ball"

Gohan indeed was flying back with the dragon ball. He was quick to pick up on Vegeta heading his way and flew down to a small island with a hill on it to use as cover. Immediately after landing, he suppressed his energy of not being found by Vegeta.

Vegeta managed to notice an energy nearby however, and just as soon he sense it, it immediately vanished. "What the hell? Where did that energy go? Hey! I know someone's out here! Show yourself or I'll erase you along with this entire area!" After a few moments of nothing, he quickly grew impatient. "Fine then, have it your way!" He raised his hand into the air and prepared an energy blast capable of wiping out the surround area.

Gohan grit his teeth and placed the dragon ball down. "Wait!" He climbled onto the hill and stared up at Vegeta. Just looking at the saiyan prince was enough to cause flashbacks to what happened to uncle Raditz, making his anger start to act up.

Vegeta noticed the boy's anger and found it amusing. He landed in front of Gohan and looked down on the runt. "I didn't expect to see Kakarot's son here. Must have tagged along with the earthlings then." He noticed the device Gohan was holding that wouldn't stop beeping due to detecting the dragon balls. "What's that you got there? The noise is giving me a headache."

Gohan looked at the dragon radar and snapped out of his anger to hide it away. "I-It's a clock. This planet doesn't get dark so I need it to tell me when it's lunch time."

Vegeta was both curious and annoyed that he hadn't realized it sooner. He had been feeling rather hungry for a while but was too busy to notice it until now. "Is that right? To think a species like earthlings were capable of space travel all the way here but can't make a clock smaller than that." It didn't take him long to change the subject to something that interested him more. "Tell me, is that obnoxious father of your's here too?"

"N-No. He was still recovering from his wounds when we left. Plus we didn't know that there would be any bad guys like you here." Gohan was lying about that second part since one of their objectives here was to make sure that the saiyans didn't get their hands on the namekians' dragon balls.

Vegeta felt both glad and disappointed at the same time hearing that Kakarot wasn't here. "What a shame, I was hoping to repay him for his hospitality back on Earth. Very well, give him a message when you see him again." He then grabbed Gohan by the back of the head and rammed his knee into the kid's stomach. "Tell him I'll be returning to Earth sometime soon, and this time I'll make sure to destroy it properly." With that off his chest, he flew off, unaware of the dragon ball no more than 3 feet away.

Not long after, Vegeta arrived in the namekian village and looked around, confused that he couldn't sense Nappa's energy. "That's odd. I could have sworn that I blasted him to here. Did I overshoot it? Or undershoot it? I know I couldn't have killed him." He turned to face the water and looked a little worried. "Don't tell me I knocked him into the water and he drowned." He dove into the water and looked around unable to find a trace of Nappa anywhere. _Damn, guess I'll have to search for him later. Right now I have more important matters to deal with._ He swam around, trying to find the dragon ball, though couldn't find it anywhere.

 _This isn't right. I know for a fact that it should be around here. There's no way it just vanished._ Thought Vegeta, though in mere moments he realized who could have possibly taken it. _That insolent brat! He was between here and the earthlings! And that device! It must be able to track down dragon balls!_ In a moment, Vegeta burst out of the water and started flying back to where the earthlings had been, once more unaware that Nappa had been in the village the entire time. "You bastards! You're going to pay for this!"

All 5 inhabitants of Earth had managed to escape to a new location before Vegeta got back to where they were before. Bulma didn't seem to look happy as she couldn't open up the capsule house in the narrow crevice that they were currently hiding in. "This is just great. I have to be in a place like this without a bathroom with the 4 of you!?"

"Relax Bulma, you'll have the place all to yourself. I'm taking the rest of these guys to meet with the Grand Elder." Krillin responded, a rather confident smile on his face.

Gohan, Tien and Yamcha looked at each other and then back at Krillin as they aren't sure why they were being forced to leave their hiding place. Bulma on the other hand was furious that Krillin was suggesting they leave her alone. "You cannot be serious! What if one of Freeza's soldiers or Vegeta find me? I can't protect myself!"

"It's fine. We won't be gone too long. Once we get to the Grand Elder, all 3 of them will become a lot stronger like I did. Then if we work together, we might be able to take Vegeta on together." said Krillin, his words definitely catching the attention of Tien.

After that, it had been decided that they'd all fly off to go meet the Grand Elder. They had to fly at a rather slow speed so that Vegeta wouldn't be able to track them. Vegeta at the time had gone to where he had hidden the 5 dragon balls he'd stolen from Freeza and set the ball he'd taken from the earthling down and sat on it, waiting for an opportunity for the earthlings to slip. Nappa at the time had regained consciousness and focussed mainly on letting his body recover, passing the time by concentrating on how to sense energy.

Elsewhere in space, Goku and Piccolo continued their training in intense gravity, Piccolo at the point where he could wear his weighted clothes to better increase his strength during their training. They'd already gotten to a high level of gravity training and had already spent 3 of the senzu beans out of the 7 they had.

Back on King Kai's planet, Raditz had gotten his arm healed up thanks to King Kai and continued to work on perfecting his new moves, though was repeatedly messing up his arm every time he attempted to use a specific one. After the 3rd time he broke his arm trying to perfect this technique, he figured it would be a better use of time to leave that technique alone and work on the others.

One day before their arrival on Namek, Goku and Piccolo had gotten used to 100 times Earth's gravity, not even getting tired from the gravity itself and only from training with each other. "Whoo, to think we'd reach out goal with a whole day to spare. What do you think? Should we keep going?" asked Goku.

Piccolo looked over Goku and took notice of how banged up his clothes and body were. "No, this should be enough. We shouldn't waste any more senzu beans on ourselves."

Goku chuckled as he was in agreement. "Alright, we'll rest up the rest of the way. While we're at it, should probably get adjusted to normal gravity. Don't want to be missing our attacks because we're going faster than expected." Goku walked over to the gravity controls and reset the gravity controls. After doing so, both of them were stunned to feel how light they were, it was light their weighted clothing wasn't even there anymore.

"This is incredible. I can't even fathom just how strong we might have become compared to before." said Piccolo, swinging his arm through the air and was shocked at how swift he was.

"Yeah. I bet like this I could handle a 10 times Kaio-Ken." said Goku. He then went for the ladder to reach the lower level of the ship. "Alright, you do whatever you want Piccolo. I'm gonna wash up and then head to sleep."

Piccolo nodded as he watched Goku disappear from sight. He walked a window and stared off into space. "Hope you won't be upset that I've far surpassed you, Raditz."

The next day, the earthlings on Namek were taking a break from flying and were eating some food to keep up their strength. After the meal, they decided that they were likely far away enough that Vegeta wouldn't pick up on them anymore. They booked it for the Grand Elder's place at a speed that should take them less than an hour.

However, Vegeta immediately sensed their collective energy and grinned as they'd finally slipped up. He was confused as to why they were moving further away from him considering he had all the remaining dragon balls, but didn't want to just wait. He took one of the dragon balls just in case and flew after them at top speed, unaware of an energy quite a ways away following after him.

Elsewhere on Namek, Nappa had managed to recover. His body still ached but he was at 100% power. Even more so than before considering the power boost from recovering. He'd gotten the hang of sensing energy and the moment he'd noticed Vegeta flying somewhere, he decided to chase after his superior.

The Z-warriors were in view of the Grand Elder's place when they simultaneously sense Vegeta quickly gaining on them. "This is bad! Guys, get to the Grand Elder's! I'll hold him off as long as possible!" shouted Krillin, taking off the backpack they were using to hold all their food.

Gohan hesitated but Tien grabbed Gohan's wrist and didn't stop flying towards the namekian structure. "We have to trust that him. He's the only one strong enough to fend him off even for a moment."

Krillin watched all 3 of them head towards the Grand Elder's house. The moment he turned around, Vegeta was right in front of him, nearly giving him a heart attack. "V-Vegeta! I-I didn't expect you to find us so fast."

Vegeta glared at the earthling as he clutched the dragon ball tightly in anger. "Of course I did. I'm not some amateur. Now, hand me the 4-starred ball if you value your life." When he noticed Krillin didn't have the ball in his position, he ignored whatever Krillin responded with and took notice of the other 3 energies flying away. "Your other companions must have the ball. I'm not wasting any time with you."

Vegeta then flew off to the giant spire of a mountain where the earthlings went. Once he arrives at the top, he finds a namekian house and is greeted by Nail. "Oh my, so you earthlings made a new ally? Doesn't matter to me how many you make." Before he could take a step, he felt 2 incredible energies inside, quite shocked at the sudden appearance. "So that's it! Kakarot and the namekian from Earth must be in there. Come on out!"

Both Tien and Yamcha stepped out of the house and stared down the saiyan. "Sorry Vegeta. 'Fraid it's just the 2 of us." said Tien, not as scared of Vegeta as before.

Inside, the Grand Elder sensed an incredible power approaching the planet as he was unlocking Gohan's latent power. "Young one, you must tell the others that someone unknown to me is approaching the planet."

Gohan almost missed the instructions as he was dumbfounded by the new power he possessed. "A-Alright." He ran outside and relayed the news to everyone. The earthlings were able to pick up on it and immediately thought it was Goku and Piccolo. But once they counted just how many there were, they got nervous again and Vegeta went into a complete panic.

Vegeta grabbed onto Gohan's shirt and lift him up. "Listen! You need to give me the dragon ball now! If you do, I promise I won't touch the Earth once I become immortal!"

The earthlings weren't buying Vegeta's panic and thought he was trying to trick them into just giving him the dragon ball. "Yeah right. After everything you've done, you think we'd just hand the ball over to you over an empty promise?" said Yamcha.

While everyone had been focusing on Vegeta, nobody had come to realize Nappa showing up behind them. "You guys need to believe him this time. Immortality is the only way any of us are going to survive." Everyone turned around in surprise to see the large saiyan just standing there. Nappa glared at Gohan but continued on with his explanation. "What you're feeling is the Ginyu Force: an elite squadron of Freeza's strongest. Each of them eclipse even Vegeta in terms of power."

Nail stepped forth as his eyes looked off in the distance to where the energies were descending into the planet's atmosphere. "What they speak is true. I sense 5 incredibly powerful evil entities." While the earthlings were dreading the fact that coming to use the namekian dragon balls to revive Raditz was a fruitless effort, Nail decided to give them information that would put them at ease. "The namekian dragon balls are capable of granting 3 wishes."

While the earthlings were both shocked and joyed to hear this, Vegeta interrupted the merry moment. "You idiots! The longer we wait here, the longer the Ginyu force has to track us down and kill us! Let's move!"

And just like that, the inhabitants of Earth and Vegeta flew off to find Bulma to grab the dragon ball and bring it to the remaining 5 that Vegeta had hidden away. Nappa, however, stayed behind and stared down the namekian. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Nappa nodded as he pointed out the various wounds on his body. "Yeah, you namekians are capable of doing tricks that could be considered magic, right? As much as it pains me to ask, I want you to heal me. I may be at full strength but my body's vulnerable."

Nail narrowed his eyes as he stared the saiyan down. "That's some nerve you have, slaughtering an entire village and then asking to be healed? Even if I was a member of the Dragon clan capable of healing you, I wouldn't do it regardless."

Nappa growled and dropped to his knee, doing a rather shameful bow. "I won't say I did it because I was ordered to. That much I will admit. But right now, I'd say keeping myself and Vegeta alive is pretty important. And I suppose those ingrates that Raditz seemed so determined to keep alive should live too."

Nail kept his stare on the saiyan. He had to admit, seeing the saiyan lower himself to a namekian of all things was pretty convincing. But he wasn't completely convinced. "I shall take it up with the Grand Elder. If you're so fixed on this, you'll wait out here patiently."

Nappa kept silent as he staying in his position, even after Nail went inside. _Damnit Raditz. Whatever change that happened to you on Earth must be contagious._

Back in space, Goku and Piccolo were woken up to the ship warning them that they'd be arriving on Namek in 20 minutes. While Goku got out of bed, brushed his teeth and put on his spare gi, Piccolo was drinking some water to keep hydrated and using his powers to repair his own outfit. By the time Goku made his way upstairs, 10 minutes had already passed. "Hey Piccolo. Think you're ready for this?"

Piccolo turned to face Son Goku but then faced the window to peer out into space. "Yeah. Despite everything we'd been warned about, I don't feel the slightest bit of fear about what we're up against. You feel the same?"

Goku nodded as he stared out the window as well, wondering if he could see planet Namek yet. "Yeah, I feel surprisingly calm. Think training in that intense gravity drove us crazy?"

Piccolo chuckled as he could see Planet Namek off in the distance. "Maybe it has. After all, I am finding your sense of humor enjoyable."

Returning to the events on Namek, the gang had successfully gotten the dragon ball from Bulma and were in view of the other 5 dragon balls. Once they landed, Vegeta ran over to try and get the dragon balls, but a large purple alien wearing the armor of Freeza's army landed in front of him, with 4 other aliens landing beside him.

"It's been a long time, Vegeta. I take it that item you're holding is a dragon ball correct?" asked the purple alien.

An alien that looked very human in shape looked behind them and noticed the other dragon balls behind them. "Hey, Captain Ginyu. Looks like there are 5 others behind us."

"Wonderful! Lord Freeza will be delighted to know that we've successfully gathered all 7 dragon balls for him! That means we no longer need to bring Vegeta in." said Ginyu, the other 4 grinning and chuckling at this news.

Vegeta growled as he was being backed into a corner, but he figured if he can't have immortality, then nobody can. "If you want the dragon ball so badly, then go fetch!" He then chucked the dragon ball as hard as he could, launching it at high speeds.

In what felt like a single second, a large, blue alien among the Ginyu Force flew after the dragon ball, caught it, and returned to his position, leaving everyone in a state of shock. "So you thought by throwing the ball out of sight, we'd never be able to find it? How utterly foolish. Burter here is the fastest in the known universe, nothing escapes him." said Ginyu, turning his eyes to the dragon ball in Krillin's hands.

Vegeta was quick to notice where Ginyu's attention went and turned his head to look at the earthling. "Break the ball, now!"

Krillin grit his teeth and swung his arm down to break the ball. Though as he swung his fist, the dragon ball mysteriously vanished in an instant. It didn't take long to find it as it was in the hands of an incredibly short, green alien.

Vegeta was even more worried as he remembered hearing certain rumors about this alien, named Guldo. "Damnit, so the little bastard really can just stop time."

"Now then, I do believe that accounts for all of them." answered Ginyu as he takes the dragon balls from his associates. "It's been a while since we've done any warm-up exercises. We'll be taking care of you lot all now. I'll take on Vegeta. The rest of you can choose which of the other 4 you want to kill."

The other 4 started to complain about Ginyu just making the decision to fight Vegeta when they all want a jab at the saiyan prince. "Alright, fine." said Ginyu. "I'll take the dragon balls to lord Freeza. You can bicker amongst yourselves to who gets Vegeta, and the 2 runts among them are taken on as a set, got it?" The rest of the Ginyu Force started speaking praise about their captain and then went on to play a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets who.

After many tied games, the final results are: Recoome gets Vegeta, Guldo gets Gohan and Krillin, Burter gets Tien and Jeice gets Yamcha. After the decision was made, Ginyu used some form of telekinesis to collect all 7 dragon balls and flew off with them.

Gohan watched as Ginyu was flying off and prepared to fire a blast of energy at the captain of these monstrous foes. Vegeta forced him to stop and made him calm down. "Alright, all of you, group in. I'll give you some information on who you're supposed to fight." The earthlings huddled in so that the Ginyu Force couldn't hear their battle plan. "You, bald one. Don't let your guard down against Guldo. He's pathetically weak, but he more than makes up for it with otherworldly abilities. Also, is Kakarot really not here?"

All 4 of them shook their head. "Gohan told us that he'd already told the situation with Goku. Though he should be arriving on Namek any minute now along with Piccolo."

Vegeta grit his teeth. "Damn it. As much as I hate to admit it, having him here would be more reassuring. I don't know where the hell Nappa went off to, but even he would make this situation a bit more comforting."

Before Vegeta could explain what Burter and Jeice could do, Recoome and Guldo started walking towards their opponents. "We're getting bored. Let's do this already." Recoome then looked down at Guldo and spoke directly to him. "You can go first Guldo. I don't wanna trip over them."

Tien put his hand on Krillin's shoulder while Yamcha but his hand on Gohan's shoulder. "You guys got this. We'll back you up if you need it."

The 2 of them nodded as they walked forward and faced Guldo. In the next moment, they raised their power up to the max, shocking all members of the Ginyu Force. Gohan and Krillin the flew into the air and go on opposite sides of Guldo and fired powerful beams at him.

Guldo went into a panic and used his time stop ability to get away from the blast, though when he looked at where the blasts originated, the small earthlings were quite a distance aways already. He exhaled as he resumed time. The moment his opponents figured out where he was, they vanished with a burst of speed. Guldo was forced to use his time stop ability once more and was surprised to see that they were right on top of him. He ran behind a rock to try and gain the element of surprise. Though when he resumed time, Gohan and Krillin immediately knew where he was and flew right for him. Guldo couldn't stop time anymore so he used his paralysis technique to stop them dead in their tracks and used his psychic powers to lift a tree from the ground and split it in half to use a weapon.

Before Guldo could decide who to throw the tree at first though, a solid ball of energy came flying out of nowhere, smashing through the tree and then changing direction to smack Guldo right in the face. Just as Guldo tried to get up, a thin beam of energy shot at Guldo and peirced through his arm. Guldo looked to see who had the audacity to attack him and saw the other 2 earthlings were his assailants. Just as he was about to counterattack, Vegeta swooped in and severed the alien's head. "V-Vegeta, you bastard. This was supposed to be a fight between me and those 2."

Vegeta smirked and aimed his open palm at the still talking head. "I don't recall agreeing to that. You should know better than to just make assumptions. Perhaps you'll remember that lesson in your next life." He then fired a beam that completely disintegrates the head. He then turned to look at Recoome who was stepping up. "The real nightmare is about to start."

* * *

 **Phew, gotta say this chapter was not one of my best. I glossed over a lot of dialogue but I honestly just wanted to get to the Ginyu Force parts as soon as possible. I completely rushed through the Guldo fight because that wasn't going to be any fun at all. Recoome is where I'm going to have some fun. Also, feel free to complain about how I wrote Nappa in the scene with Nail, I know it isn't usually how he'd usually act but I'm trying to prepare his character for the rest of the series, along with build up Raditz as these 2 characters will be my main targets for writing around once I get them in a situation that I can use them. I already have big plans for the 2 of them and I'm just so excited to share them with you. I promise I won't just rush through story like this again, at least not anytime soon. Anyway, that's enough excuses from me. I'll try to have another chapter ready for you guys as soon as I can, hopefully within the next week. Who know's how job hunting will go. Tune in next time for the next VERY exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	15. A whole new saiyan

Recoome grinned as he prepared to take on Vegeta. He didn't even look upset that Guldo was just killed in front of his eyes. "Alright Vegeta, don't go boring me. I want to have some fun before I kill you." He then looked past Vegeta at 4 earthlings. "If you want, you guys can join too."

"Oi, Recoome!" called out Jeice. "Those talls ones belong to me and Burter. And with Guldo dead, that means we get the short ones too! Don't go stealing our kills!"

Tien glared at the remaining 3 members of the Ginyu Force as they make him sound like sport and nothing more. Yamcha was a little shaken up by how dangerously calm those guys were being, though he did his best to keep his composure. Krillin was a bit of a mix between the 2, though wasn't able to keep much composure. Gohan was gripping his shirt as that anger of his just wouldn't stop trying to act up, being pretty distracting to keep in under control.

Vegeta was tired of being treated like a joke. He started powering up, his screams getting louder the stronger he was getting. His increasing power was alerting the Ginyu Forces' scouters. Once he finished his charging up, he rushed at Recoome at max speed, He threw a punch that knocked Recoome back and threw the scouter off his face. The saiyan then flew around his opponent and gripped his hands together to deal a heavy hit to Recoome's head before the guy landed from being knocked back. The prince then slammed his knees against Recoome's chest and grabbed his leg. Vegeta proceeded to chuck Recoome into a rock and spread his arms out, collecting energy in each hand before bringing them together and firing a massive beam at Recoome, creating a large explosion.

The earthlings had to try and avoid being thrown back by the forceful wind created from the explosion. As a large cloud of dust covered where Recoome was, everyone assumed that Vegeta had actually succeeded in killing Recoome, and in such a short amount of time too. It didn't take long to sense Recoome's energy was still there. Once the dust cleared, they could see Recoome had a couple of scratches and a little blood dripping from his mouth but other than that, he was unaffected at all. His armor was destroyed however and the elastic fabric underneath the armor was pretty torn up.

"Heh, not bad Vegeta. Now it's my turn. Recoome Kick!" Recoome the launched himself at Vegeta with blinding speed, ramming his knee against the saiyan's jaw and launching the prince back. Vegeta managed to catch himself midair and rushed at Recoome, throwing a flurry of punches. Recoome managed to block every attack and retaliated with an elbow downwards onto Vegeta's head. He tried to follow up with a punch with his other arm but Vegeta flew away in time, but Recoome followed behind him.

Vegeta sped up and fired an energy blast at Recoome. Recoome sped up even more to dodge, popping up beside Vegeta and kicking him down into the water. Vegeta waited a moment for Recoome to drop his guard before flying up and slamming his fists into Recoome's stomach. Recoome pretended to be hurt for a moment but proceeded to grab Vegeta's side, flying down to the ground at high speed to pull off a devastating pile driver. After the attack, Vegeta's upper body was lodged inside the ground.

Recoome grabbed onto Vegeta's leg and plucked him out like a vegetable. "Hey Vegeta, you haven't gone and died on me yet, have you? I told you not to bore me."

Vegeta opened his eyed and fired an energy blast right into Recoome's face, causing the brute to drop him and flew back against the ground. As Vegeta struggled to get back up, Recoome got back up quite easily.

The earthlings just watched in horror, watching as nothing Vegeta was doing was working. "What kind of monster is he?" asked Tien, shaking as he came to the realization that if Vegeta couldn't do anything to this guy, what could the 4 of them do against the other 2 who were just spectating.

"Guys, I think we have no choice but to fight. If we work together, we might be able to stall out this fight long enough for Goku and Piccolo to arrive." said Krillin, sweating a bit as he wasn't sure if they'd be able to do this. "Though after witnessing that, I'm not sure even Goku can handle this guy." They watched as Recoome started to prepare for an attack called the Recoome Erasure Gun and was about to fly out to attack Recoome and save Vegeta when an unknown energy blast came flying out from behind them and hit Recoome square in the face.

To literally everyone's surprise, the blast had came from Nappa, who had shown up while everyone was distracted from the fight. He stepped forward past the earthlings and then past Vegeta. "Step down, Vegeta. Leave the grunt work to me."

"Is that Nappa?" asked Burter. "I thought lord Freeza said he was dead."

"Either he came back from the dead or he was hiding away the whole time." answered Jeice. "Doesn't matter though, scouters say his power level is just as high as Vegeta's.

Recoome got up and wiped some blood off his face. "Well that was surprising. Hey, you don't mind if I take him on too, do you?" He turned his head to ask his companions.

"Go ahead. Won't be any fun for us anyway." answered Jeice.

Recoome grinned and turned his head back, only to be met by a brutish punch by the saiyan elite, knocking some of Recoome's teeth out. Recoome stumbled as the punch really hurt and put his hand to his mouth, seeing a good amount of blood. He clenched his fist and smiled as he might find some fun in this yet.

Vegeta on the other hand was in pure shock as Nappa managed to do that kind of damage to Recoome in a single hit while everything he had didn't manage to do anything. _How the hell did he do that?! What did he do to acquire that much power in such a short amount of time. Have I really let my own underling surpass me?!_ What Vegeta doesn't know is that Nappa got this strong by staying behind.

Not too long ago, back at the Grand Elder's place, Nappa was given permission to step inside and meet with him. "So this is the eldest namekian. Can't say I'm surprised or impressed."

"Watch it saiyan. The Grand Elder has accepted your offer to have you healed. Be grateful that a barbarian like you is being given this honor." growled Nail, preparing to fight if it was necessary.

The Grand Elder raised up his hand to command Nail to stop from doing anything rash. "I sense much evil in your heart. You show no guilt for those that you kill."

Nappa couldn't help but chuckle. "Hit the nail right on the head. I'm a saiyan, I don't care for anyone but myself."

The Grand Elder continued to speak, and his next words would put a little shock into Nappa. "Evil is not the only thing I sense however. I sense loyalty, pride to prove yourself. I also sense jealousy."

Nappa grit his teeth. "Jealousy? The other 2 I can get, but me? Jealous? What the hell would I have to be jealous of?!" He went a bit silent as he felt the Grand Elder's hand placed on top of him.

The Grand Elder not only healed Nappa's injuries, but also took a look into his memories. "I see. So this Raditz person is the source."

Nappa could feel his blood boil as he was being told that he was jealous of Raditz. "Did you just read my mind?! My thoughts belong to me, not some overweight slug! Especially the ones about Raditz!"

"You're upset that you didn't get to settle things with him, aren't you?" When Nappa refused to answer, the Grand Elder continued to speak. "What if I told you that the earthlings came here to revive the person you wish to fight once more."

Nappa went wide-eyed and stared up at the Grand Elder, feeling some sort of weight lifted from him. "So that's why they want the namekian dragon balls. If the dragon balls here can grant 3 wishes, that's just enough to bring him back to life and get me and Vegeta immortality. Alright, now that I'm healed, I'm leaving."

"Wait." ordered the Grand Elder. "If you're going to help them, perhaps I could increase your odds."

Nail turned to the Grand Elder, looking both angry and scared. "Grand Elder, certainly you aren't planning on unlocking this man's hidden potential?! He killed an entire village!"

"You're right to have doubts, but I am willing to put my faith in him. His sense of loyalty won't allow him to betray the other saiyan. And I'm sure his pride will allow the earthlings the chance to make their wish." said the Grand Elder.

Nappa clenched his fist as he stared at the ground, feeling uncomfortable about the namekian talking about him like that. On the other hand, his saiyan was was surging with excitement at the chance to fight with Raditz again. "Alright. If you think this little trick of yours will give me a better chance, then let's see it."

Back in the present moment, Recoome and Nappa just stared off into each other's eyes before they rushed at each other. Recoome landed a punch against Nappa's cheek while Nappa's punch landed against Recoome's stomach. Both of them stumbled back but immediately recovered and went for another blow, this time Recoome landed a kick against Nappa's leg while Nappa landed an open palm strike against Recoome's chest, launching Recoome back. Recoome didn't back down as he rushed in and locked hands with Nappa, trying to bend his hands back and push him back.

Nappa chuckled as this was all too familiar. He tightened his grip and started surrounding his hands in his energy. The energy began to crackle and Recoome's gloves started to rip apart. "How does this feel? It's a nifty little technique I just learned how to do on the spot."

Recoome winces as this unusual attack was really starting to hurt his hands. He tried to let go and escape but Nappa's tight grip wouldn't allow it. "S-Stupid saiyan. I'll make you regret this." He prepares to fire a Recoome Erasure Gun attack, collecting energy in his mouth.

When Nappa saw this, he prepared to build up energy in his mouth as well. Both fighters launched their beams at each other and the resulting explosion was enough to knock everyone back. Both warriors who were in the dead center of the explosion were now several feet apart and struggling to get up. Nappa looked like he could still fight while Recoome was having trouble breathing and clutching his chest.

"Wha.. What happened to you? Why can't I beat you?" asked Recoome. From all the reports they'd heard about, Vegeta was supposed to be leagues above the other saiyans, and yet here he is, fighting on equal if not on better terms than Recoome while Vegeta could barely do much damage.

Nappa simply walked forward, a glare in his eye as he approached Recoome that had Recoome looking a little scared. When Recoome threw a punch, Nappa dodged it and landed a sucker punch against Recoome's stomach and then grabbing the fabric over his chest. "All these years, I'd preyed upon only the weak. A saiyan of my age should have used my experience better, but I got sloppy. What you're looking at is a true saiyan elite." He raised his fist to deal the final blow, but saw something in the distance that caught his attention.

Recoome used this chance to back away and looked to see what the saiyan was looking at when the saiyan didn't even respond to his escape.

"Oi, is that a spaceship?" asked Jeice, pretty much being a commentator at this point.

Krillin looked ecstatic to see the ship and sense 2 familiar energy coming from it. "There's no doubt about it! It's Goku!"

The ship that landed started opening its door, allowing for both Piccolo and Goku to see the planet Namek. Piccolo was filled with a surge of emotion and nostalgia as he looked upon the surface of Namek. Meanwhile, Goku was reading out the energy of the few amount of people on Namek, trying to locate his friends.

"Ah, I got 'em. They're all okay. Though they're near some other incredibly strong energy. Though one of them is getting weaker by the second. Think that's good or bad, Piccolo?" asked Goku as he turned to Piccolo, who snapped out of his trance.

"If it isn't any of those 4, then we don't have to worry about that person's well being. We should still hurry. Things might turn bad if we aren't quick." answered Piccolo. After Goku nodded, they both flew off to go help the Z-warriors.

In less than a minute, both of them had arrived, shocking everyone by how fast they went, including Burter. Vegeta looked a little stiff as for a brief moment, he could feel the insane amount of energy the 2 of them had.

The earthlings looked happy to see Goku and ran to him, surrounding him and Piccolo. "Goku, oh man is it great to see you!" shouted Krillin.

While the others were asking questions and proclaiming just how happy they were to see both of them, Goku and Piccolo were looking at Vegeta and Nappa, wondering why Vegeta looked badly hurt and why Nappa looked like he was fighting the other guys just standing there. "Hey Krillin, what's up with them? Aren't those guys with the saiyans?" asked Goku.

While the earthlings tried explaining the situation to Goku, Recoome figured this was the perfect time to pull off his ultimate attack. "Recoome! Ultra! Fighting!-"

Nappa caught on quick to what Recoome was about to pull. He realized he had been instinctively gathering energy to his hand since the little struggle with Recoome earlier. He figured he might as well put it to use and improvise a new technique. He formed 2 fingers and shot his fingers upwards. Normally this attack would create a large explosion, though this time it created a pillar of energy shooting out from underneath Recoome like a geyser. Once this geyser attack faded, Recoome was standing motionless, his entire body completely singed, smoke coming off his possibly dead body.

Jeice and Burter looked in horror at the fate of their comrade. "D-Did that really just happen? Did Recoome really just kick the bucket? Burter, check him with the scouter. I think I'm suffering from shock."

Burter used his scouter to check Recoome's power level, going wide-eyed at the reading her got. "He.. His power's at zero. Recoome just got killed by.. By a saiyan."

"We gotta report this to the captain." said Jeice. He reached up to turn on the comms of his scouter when a beam shot at him and landed right on the scouter, busting it. Another beam came and broke Burter's scouter as well.

Piccolo had one hand up with his finger pointing at the 2 of them. "You're not contacting anyone. If you run, I'll strike you before you can get a mile out."

Goku looked at Vegeta and pulled out the bag of senzu beans. "Here, you helped my son and best friend out. You deserve it."

Vegeta took the bean and looked at it. He wasn't sure what Kakarot was planning with it but figured he might as well eat it. He ate the senzu bean and in no time at all, every injury he'd suffered in his fight against Recoome had completely vanished. Not only that, but he didn't feel hungry at all anymore.

"Hey Kakarot!" called out Nappa, getting the attention of the saiyan from Earth. "Think you can spare one of those things? I'm a little winded from fighting Recoome."

Goku stared at the saiyan elite and could tell there was something different about him since the last time they met. "Sure, though I'd suggest hanging onto it. They'll heal all your injuries." said Goku as he tosses a senzu bean at Nappa.

Nappa catches the bean and looks at it. He puts it into the tight fold of where his tail forms a belt. He then turns to face Jeice and Burter. "So, which one of you are next?"

Piccolo walks up and holds his arm out in front of Nappa. "Let me take care of them. I didn't train for a week to spectate."

Nappa growled but let the namekian do as he pleased. If anything, the namekian will get pulverized and then he'll get his turn anyway.

"A-Are they making fools out of us?" asked Burter, getting frustrated.

"I think they are. I think it's time we show off what the Ginyu Force can really do!" shouted Jeice.

The 2 of them then rushed at Piccolo, Burter zooming ahead to strike a kick to the namekian's head while Jeice aimed a punch for his midsection. Piccolo managed to dodged both of these attacks with ease and extended his arms to grab each of them by the ankle, swinging them around and lets them go, tossing them into a mountain.

Both of them came flying out the other side and grit their teeth as they decided to use this chance to formulate a strategy. Meanwhile, Piccolo was able to hear the whole thing due to his excellent hearing. The 2 of them came flying from above the mountain. Jeice created a Crusher Ball and Burter used his incredible speed to kick it at Piccolo. Piccolo stopped the ball with just one hand and smirked, firing it back with his own energy along with it. They both managed to dodge it but failed to notice Piccolo right above them.

Piccolo aimed both his hands downwards at them and fired beams at each of them, mimicking Raditz's attack. Jeice and Burter got caught in the attack and were hurled at the ground, struggling to get up as the namekian wasn't holding back at all. Piccolo chuckled as he pressed 2 fingers to his forehead, gathering energy to perform a Special Beam Cannon.

Jeice grunted as he looked up, an ominous feeling of dread emanating from the namekian. "B-Burter. We gotta get outta here. We're no match for this monster!"

"You're right. We have to tell the captain." said Burter. He fired an energy blast at Piccolo and then then attempted to book it.

Piccolo simply swatted the attack back at Jeice before the red alien could attempt to escape as well. He kept his sights on Burter and smirked. "It may not be full power, but it's enough. Special Beam Cannon!" He fired a spiraling beam at Burter, the beam quickly catching up.

Jeice coughed from the smoke caused by the attack Piccolo swatted at him. Once the smoke cleared, he saw the beam coming for Burter. "Burter! Get out of the way!"

But it was too late. Before Burter could turn around to see what was going on, the beam pierced through his back and shot out his chest. He trembled for a couple of seconds before going stiff and falling into the water.

Goku looked up at Piccolo with a pretty angry look. "Piccolo! What are you doing?! There was no reason to kill him!"

Piccolo looked at Goku as he lowered himself back down. "Your softness continues to astound me. If he'd ran away, he would have alerted Freeza, and then our element of surprise is gone."

Jeice watch the 2 of them argue. He slowly backed up, approaching the water. He figured he'd be able to escape through that route. As he was backing up, he feld his back bump into something. Before he could turn his head to look, 2 hands grabbed the sides of his head and violently snapped his neck.

"Hey Vegeta, looks like all we have to worry about now are Ginyu and Freeza!" shouted Nappa as he let go of Jeice's corpse.

Everyone looked at Nappa in horror as he just killed the Ginyu Force member. Even Vegeta was petrified at just how strong he'd gotten. He was sure that he'd have caught up thanks to the boost he got from recovering from the fight with Recoome, but he was still infuriated that the man who'd served under him his whole life had surpassed him.

"I don't want to change the subject, but it needs to be addressed. Freeza still has the dragon balls." said Tien, reminding everyone of the real problem.

"That's right. Ginyu brought all 7 dragon balls to him which means he's already immortal. The best we can do now is hope we never come across him." said Vegeta, clenching his fist as everything he'd worked for has been for nothing.

"Actually, we're completely fine." Yamcha spoke up, having more experience with the dragon balls than anyone here besides Goku. "If these dragon balls are anything like the ones on Earth, then the sky would have gone dark the moment the dragon was summoned. It's been light out the entire time we were here, so they might not know the right way to bring out the dragon."

"So what you're saying is that we still have have a chance to get all 3 wishes granted?" asked Nappa as he walked up to the others.

"Huh? 3 wishes? You mean it isn't just one?" asked Goku, looking genuinely surprised at this news.

"Yeah, I think that namekian with the Grand Elder said something about 3 wishes too." said Yamcha.

They lingered on this subject for a couple minutes. After those minutes, they felt a rather strong energy approaching them. "Great, looks like Ginyu's on his way here. Took him long enough." said Vegeta. He smirked as that meant that Freeza's ship was left completely unguarded.

"This Ginyu guy feels pretty strong. I'll be the one to take him on this time." said Goku. He turned to his friends. "You guys go grab the dragon radar and find the dragon balls. Once you do, wish Raditz back and we can all get out of here."

Before anyone could argue, Gohan flew off to where Bulma was. All he could really think about was seeing his uncle Raditz again. The others figured they may as well and flew off to where Bulma was, leaving the Goku, Piccolo and the saiyans to face off against Ginyu.

Ginyu landed less than a minute later and looked around, seeing the burnt remains of Recoome, the decapitated body of Guldo and the lifeless body of Jeice around the area. "I can't believe it. All of my men." He faced the group of 4 and glared at them. "So you're the ones who did this, huh? Wait, Nappa? I thought you were dead."

Vegeta chuckled. "Yes, yes. Nappa's alive. It was all a part of my plan. Now, if you don't mind. I have business to attend to. Let's go, Nappa!" He then flew off over Ginyu straight to Freeza's ship.

Nappa watched as Vegeta just bailed on Kakarot and immediately knew what he was thinking. "Good luck, Kakarot. You'll need it." He then flew after Vegeta.

"Want me to go after them?"asked Piccolo, keeping an eye on the saiyans.

"No, let them go. They can't cause any trouble for us right now." said Goku, turning his focus back on Ginyu.

Ginyu used his scouter to measure the power levels of the fighters in front of him. "What?! A power level of 5000?! Either this thing's busted or you're holding back. There's no way you killed all my men with such a measly power level."

"To be fair, I didn't lay a single hand on them. One was already dead when I got here, Nappa killed 2 of them and Piccolo here killed the blue one." said Goku honestly.

Ginyu looked furious at this confession but couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I admire your honesty. But if all your little friends left and even the saiyans left you here, that means you're the strongest, am I right?"

Goku chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well I don't know about that. I do know I've definitely improved during my training, so I'm excited to see just how much."

Ginyu chuckled at Goku, finding the strange person amusing. "You wish to test your strength against the illustrious Captain Ginyu? You continue to grow fascinating. Very well, let us see if you're worthy of facing me."

Goku got into his traditional fighting stance while Piccolo flew a good distance a way so he wouldn't interrupt the fight. Ginyu rushed Goku and threw a punch at him, only to be dodged by the saiyan. The 2 of them went on for quite a while throwing punches and kicks at each other and dodging all of the attacks. It wasn't until Goku finally landed a punch that Ginyu decided to back away.

"I get it now. You're able to suppress your power level, aren't you? Not everyday I meet someone able to do the same as me." said Ginyu, suddenly powering up and surprising both Goku and Piccolo. He then fired a ball of energy at Goku

Goku manages to dodge, though having to try a little harder to do so. He went to land a kick at Ginyu's head only for the alien to duck. They then got into a skirmish of blows between each other, both sides barely able to land a hit on each other and the ones that did land weren't direct hits. Ginyu decided to fly up to prepare for an attack only for Goku to fly past him, shocking the captain.

Goku started charging up a Kamehameha and fired it. Captain Ginyu looked astonished by the technique and fired a powerful energy blast to counter it, resulting in an intense explosion and shockwave that parted the water underneath them.

Ginyu panted for breath as he hadn't gotten this serious in a while. "I'm impressed. I never imagined I'd ever meet a lone warrior capable of giving me such a workout. But tell me, is that all of your power? You're reserving your strength to fight against lord Freeza, aren't you?"

Goku was breathing a little heavily too, having underestimated this guy. "Yeah, I am actually. I was hoping to finish things quickly, but I guess I'll have to go all out if I'm gonna do this." He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. After a moment of anticipation, he opened his eyes. "Kaio-Ken times 2!" At that moment, his power shot up dramatically.

Ginyu chuckled as he didn't comprehend what he was witnessing until he consulted his scouter, his face turning a lighter shade of purple as the scouter said the saiyan's power was constantly rising, eventually capping out at 200,000. "W-Wha?! How is this possible?!"

Goku stopped using the Kaio-Ken and dropped his power back to 5000. "I'll warn you now, that's nothing compared to what I can do in split-second bursts. There's no chance in beating me. You should leave now before that Freeza guy thinks you're too weak."

Ginyu was shocked as this warrior was admitting that wasn't even his max power. He then began to laugh. "You're telling me to leave? I think think you're understanding what hole you just dug yourself. Now that you've shown me your power, I think I'll take that power for my own."

* * *

 **Whoo, a chapter done that I can be proud of. I don't think I need to explain why I feel proud of this chapter. I know the moment Ginyu changes bodies with Goku would be an even better point to leave off on, but I do need material to help stretch out the next chapter, as I know exactly where I'm gonna leave it off. Not a lot to say for this chapter except I'm a little disappointed that I can't find any good moments to give Tien and Yamcha. Part of me wishes I'd just left them behind but oh well, damage already done. The next chapters to come though. Oh boy is this gonna be a fun time. Expect the next chapter this Friday. Happy Thanksgiving in advance for all you americans. That's all from this author. Tune in for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	16. The Dragon is Summoned The Wish is made

Goku stared at Ginyu with a look of confusion. "Take my power? I don't quite understand."

Ginyu simply chuckled as he took off his scouter. "Don't worry about the details. Mind holding onto this for me?" He tossed his scouter at Goku who caught it. He then started focusing energy around his hand and pierced it into his chest.

Both Goku and Piccolo looked shocked to see this guy potentially mortally wound himself. _What the hell is this guy thinking?! There's no way he can face Son Goku now. Unless.._ "Goku, move it!"

It was too late though. As Goku turned his head to face Piccolo, Ginyu spread his arms out, surrounding his whole body in light. "Change now!" The light engulfing him shot at Goku, colliding with the saiyan.

After a brief flash of light, Goku began to chuckle placing the scouter on his head. "And there you have it. That amazing power level of 200,000 is now mine."

Ginyu grunted from the chest wound, staring up at Goku. "Wha.. Why am I looking at my own body? What did you do?"

Piccolo looked in horror as he could feel a severe difference in Son Goku. His energy felt pure evil while Ginyu's evil energy couldn't be felt anymore. It didn't take him long to realize that Ginyu had swapped bodies with Goku.

"Now that I have this much power, it's time to start wiping out all your little friends." Ginyu looked down at Piccolo and smirked. "Starting with you."

Piccolo grunted as he had no option other than to flee. He figured that if he teamed up with the saiyans, they could take him. He flew towards Goku, grabbed hold of him and booked it to where the saiyans were.

Ginyu watched in surprise as the namekian just grabbed his old body and flew off. "Heh. So you want this to be a game now, huh? Alright, I'll play along." He flew after the namekian, thinking he's intentionally letting them get a head start when the truth is this was as fast as he could fly.

While that fight had been going on, the earthlings had managed to reach Bulma. The earth woman was currently asleep with a scouter in her lap when the fighters had arrived. "Bulma! We need the dragon radar!" shouted Yamcha, figuring he could convince Bulma.

Bulma woke up and rubbed her eyes, seeing the 4 of them and immediately got mad. "Where the hell have you guys been?! The first time I see you in days, you show up with Vegeta, take the dragon ball, and then fly off, leaving me alone again. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to leave a delicate woman like me alone?!"

Tien grunted as they didn't have time for this. He pushed past the woman and grabbed the dragon radar off the small table she'd set up. "Looks like all of them are still together."

"Hey! None of you are going anywhere unless you tell me what the hell is going on?! Why aren't any of you with the dragon balls if all 7 are together?!" shouted Bulma, quickly losing patience if she had any at all.

"There's no time. We'll explain everything." said Gohan as he flew into the air along with the other 3. Before they all started to book it to where the dragon balls were, Gohan turned his head to Bulma to tell her one last thing. "Oh yeah, my dad and Piccolo are finally here, and they're crazy strong!" With that, the 4 of them flew off, leaving Bulma by herself once again.

"Boy, looking back in it, I never expected Goku to become quite the amazing guy. I mean, I knew he was amazing from the day I met him, but I never thought he'd grow up to be so handsome. I know Yamcha and I are supposed to be a couple, but I think any spark between us has gone." Bulma then sighed and sat down, picking up the scouter she'd been working on. "I think I missed my chance."

Meanwhile at Freeza's ship, Vegeta and Nappa were digging through the equipment to find some replacement body armor for themselves. Nappa managed to find one that fit his size pretty well but Vegeta could only find an older model in his body size.

While they were dressing, Vegeta looked at his body and was astonished at how effective that item Kakarot had given him. "Quite the astounding medicine they have on Earth. Not only did it heal all my injuries instantly, but my power's back at 100%. Perhaps we should spare the Earth and force them to make more of that item."

"Would that even be necessary?" asked Nappa as looked in the compartment that scouters are usually at, a force of habit. He didn't find any scouters anyway. "If we succeed in becoming immortal, we won't need them."

"You make a good point. Very well, we'll destroy the Earth as planned then." said Vegeta. He then caught attention of the earthlings coming towards the ship. "Looks like they're on their way. Hide your power level. We'll jump them once they summon the dragon."

Nappa nodded as he concentrated, his power level dropping to 0. He was surprised he could do it but didn't dwell on it, following behind Vegeta to outside the ship. They both hid behind the legs of the ship and watched as the earthlings arrived.

Tien looked at the dragon radar as he stood atop the center of the ship. "They're not in the ship. They're a little northwest."

Gohan noticed an unnatural patch of dirt in the direction Tien pointed out, flying forward to it. He starts digging before the others could catch up with him, finding one of the dragon balls. "Hey, I found one!" He continues to dig and unbury the other 6.

"We did it!" shouted Yamcha, quite excited to for this nightmare to finally be over. "We went through hell but we finally did it. Care to do the honors, Krillin?"

"I'd love to." said Krillin, clearing his throat. "Shenron! Come forth and grant our wish!"

After a moment of nothing happening, everyone began to go into a panic. The panic only worsened as they sensed a high power level approaching them. The panic died out when they saw Piccolo flying toward them but wasn't sure why he was carrying Ginyu, likely thinking they kept him as a prisoner. "Hey Piccolo. Looks like you did a real number on that Ginyu guy. But where's Goku?" asked Yamcha.

"This isn't the time to talk! The saiyans flew this way, where are they? We need their help!" shouted Piccolo, his expression giving the hint that he wasn't joking.

"T-The saiyans? We haven't sensed them at all the whole time we've been here. W-Why, is Freeza coming?!" asked Krillin, a little worried once he sensed yet another energy coming their way.

Ginyu in Goku's body landed and immediately noticed the dragon balls. "Well well, so you've dug up the dragon balls. I don't know how you managed to find them, but I guess it doesn't really matter now since I'm gonna kill you all."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Krillin walked up to him, unaware of the situation. "Are you feeling okay Goku? Is wearing that scouter driving you crazy or something? Why are you wearing it anyway?"

Goku in Ginyu's body watched as Ginyu raised his arm up. "Krillin! You have to move, that's not me!"

Everyone turned to look at Goku and almost missed Krillin get hit by Ginyu, sending the earthling flying. Krillin wiped some of the blood from his lip and looked at Goku's body with shock. "Ow, what the hell was that for!"

"That's not Son Goku!" shouted Piccolo, letting go of Goku. "That purple guy used some weird technique to swap bodies with him!"

Everyone went wide-eyed as they then turned to Ginyu, who was chuckling. "Looks like the secret's out. Now to show you just how much fearsome power I now possess!" He started charging up his power as much as he could. Everyone was anticipating a huge jump in power but it barely went above what the earthlings were capable of. "Are you scared yet?"

Goku tried to feel out just how much power Ginyu was outputting but was having difficulties since he wasn't used to this body. That's when it donned on him that Ginyu must not know how to work his body either. "Hey Piccolo. Go ahead and fight him. He's no match for you."

Piccolo chuckled as he knew after a while of Ginyu powering up that it was pointless to get worried over it. "Gladly. I've had some anger to vent on you, best situation I could dream of."

Ginyu chuckled as he was unaware of the situation he was in and prepared to fight. "That chest wound must be messing with your head. I, the illustrious captain Ginyu, shall now strike you down!" He rushed at Piccolo and threw a punch, only to be easily dodged.

Piccolo then responded with an sucker punch to Ginyu's chest, causing him to buckle over and cough up blood. "How pathetic." He then went for an elbow against Ginyu's back, completely messing up his spine. Piccolo then grabbed Ginyu by the hair and noticed something missing. "Hey, what happened to that little bag you had on you?"

Ginyu coughed up some more blood as he tried to speak, hardly able to move after taking 2 blows from the namekian. "I threw it away. It seemed important to you but I had no interest in them!"

Piccolo growled and pressed his index finger against his elbow, firing a small energy blast that paralyzed his arm. He then proceeded to do the same to his 3 other limbs, much like he did to Son Goku in 23rd World Martial Arts tournament. "Sucks to be you then, because without those, those arms and legs of yours won't be moving for a long time." He clearly forgot about the one that Nappa had and apparently so did everyone else since nobody commented on it, not even the saiyans who were spectating. Piccolo tossed Ginyu up into the air and started charging up for a Special Beam Cannon again.

Ginyu grinned weakly as he was just given the perfect opportunity. "You fool! Change now!" A familiar light engulfed his body and shot straight towards Piccolo.

Goku took this moment to fly into the way of the light, forcing Ginyu back into his own body. Once back in his own body, Goku struggled to fly to keep from crashing into the ground. Once he touched feet onto the ground, he collapsed onto the ground, unable to move at all.

Ginyu grunted as he was forced back into his own body. "Rotten bastard. I won't fail this time." He turned around and prepared to use his technique pointblank on Piccolo. "Change-"

Before he could finish speaking, the ground below him erupted in a blazing spire of energy underneath Captain Ginyu, turning his wounded body to a crisp corpse. Nappa stepped out from behind the leg of the ship and grabbed the head of Ginyu's corpse and crushed it with ease. "Just one left."

Vegeta growled as he walked up behind Nappa. "Damn it Nappa, there was no reason to get involved!" He looked at Kakarot and grunted. "Since you aren't aware how to use the namekian dragon balls, it would be beneficial to us to get you healed up. Nappa, carry him to the pod inside the ship. The rest of you, come with me."

While everyone followed behind Vegeta inside the ship, Nappa threw Kakarot over his shoulder and dragged him into a different part of the ship, setting him inside a healing pod. "Judging by your injuries, this older model should heal you within the hour."

Within a couple minutes, Vegeta walked around the corner with the earthlings and Piccolo following behind. The earthlings were all dressed in battle armor much like the saiyans'. Piccolo on the other hand refused to put it on.

Nappa mainly focused on Gohan and chuckled. "Gotta say, besides that stupid haircut, you look pretty good in that armor." He put his hand on the runt's head and then brought his focus to Vegeta. "So what's our next step?"

"We need a namekian to tell us the password to activate these dragon balls and this one is useless in that regard." Vegeta nudged in Piccolo's direction. "Short one, I need you to head down to that elder and ask him for the password. It's unlike Freeza to take this long to torture information out of someone so he likely got distracted."

"Alright, if you say so. Piccolo, you should come with. He'll be able to unlike your dormant potential and who knows just how much stronger you'll become." said Krillin, rather excited at the prospect of having an even stronger ally.

Vegeta nodded as he watched the short earthling and the namekian leave the ship and fly off. He then turned to face Nappa. "You keep an eye on the earthlings. Let me know if they get up to anything. I need sleep." Without even waiting for a response from Nappa, he walked off to the quarters of the ship.

Nappa sat down and grumbled, frustrated with being put on babysitting duty but knew better than to argue with Vegeta. "You heard him, you try any funny business and you answer to me. You, Kakarot's kid. Go guard the dragon balls. Don't want Freeza to get the jump on us and nab them."

Gohan nodded and walked outside, leaving Tien and Yamcha to do nothing. Once Gohan got outside, he sat on top of one of the dragon balls and was forced to wait for Krillin and Piccolo to get back.

Meanwhile on King Kai's planet, Raditz had been keeping up with events by having King Kai tell him what's been going on. He'd been meditating the past 24 hours to better his focus. His right hand occasionally twitched sometimes due to the technique that kept breaking his hand, though that didn't break his concentration.

King Kai walked over to Raditz with what could possibly be the saiyan's last meal on his planet. "Looks like the issue with that Ginyu fellow has passed. Goku's pretty beat up but he'll be better than ever in about an hour, give or take.

Raditz breathed outward as he opened his eyes. "Glad to hear. The last thing I wanted was to reunite with Kakarot in Ginyu's body. So, they got their hands on the dragon balls?"

King Kai sat down in front of the saiyan and poured tea for the both of them. "Yes, though they appear to need a namekian who knows how to use them. Sadly Piccolo can't help with that so you'll be here just a little bit longer."

"That's fine." said Raditz, grabbing his cup and chugging down the tea. He slammed the tea cup down yet didn't break it, slowing his momentum to a stop the moment before impact. "Hey, I'd like you to remove all this excess weight before I go. Don't need it weighing me down on Namek."

King Kai took the cup from Raditz and handed him a couple plates of food as well as a bento box for when he leaves. "Sure thing. While we're on the subject, would you like any alterations to your armor?"

Raditz opened his mouth but said nothing, never having given it much though. "Hmm, I suppose we could lose the shoulder pads, they get in the way. Also, I'll take blue armor, like my father's. Maybe a bit of orange to represent Kakarot. Other than that, I don't care." He then grabbed the plates of food and ate all of it in a matter of moments.

King Kai couldn't help but chuckle at the saiyan's suggestions, seeing that the once barbaric being showing a large soft spot. "Alright. One spankin' new set of armor, coming up." He aimed his hand at Raditz and in a flash of light, the warrior's entire ensemble transformed into what he asked for, a chest piece identical to that of Bardock's with blue and orange representing Goku's gi. King Kai also left an insignia of his own on the back of Raditz's armor. "Not a bad look for you?" He then created a small mirror for Raditz to look at himself.

Raditz looked into the mirror and smiled, confident of who he had become. Though there was one thing he felt should be done to show how much he's changed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, aiming his hand behind his head. He exhaled and fired a beam that severed half of his hair off.

King Kai looked positively shocked at the saiyan's personal style change. "A-Are you okay? I thought saiyans kept their hairstyle from birth. Wouldn't cutting it that much pretty much take away who you are?"

Raditz chuckled as he put a little effort to restore some of the spikiness to his hair. "I've never heard anyone say it like that, but I suppose you're right. I'm not the same saiyan I was over a year ago. May as well prove it with a haircut."

Back on Namek, Krillin and Piccolo had been flying across Namek for a couple minutes. They both stopped when they felt a small energy flying off to where they were coming from. Krillin recognized the energy and flew after it, Piccolo following suit. The namekian was quite surprised to see they were flying towards a small namekian child. "Dende! It's me, Krillin!"

Dende turned his head and stopped when he saw Krillin, flying towards his earthling friends. "Krillin! I'm so glad you're okay! And-" He turned and jumped back as he saw the namekian, utterly shocked with how powerful this namekian was. "W-Who are you?!"

"I'm Piccolo. Now that we got that out of the way, why are all the way out here?" asked Piccolo, wasting no time as they were likely limited on it.

"Ah, right. The Grand Elder thought you might have gotten the dragon balls so he sent me to help you use them. He didn't tell you that you need to speak namekian for them to work." answered Dende hastily.

"Ah, that makes sense. Thanks Dende, we should head back and go use the dragon balls right away!" said Krillin. He then faced Piccolo. "You should still head to the Grand Elder's. I'm sure that power boost you'll get will be enough to make a difference."

"Right. I'll head there, you go summon the dragon." said Piccolo.

They all nodded and split up, Krillin and Dende heading back to the ship while Piccolo went off to the Grand Elder's. At least that's where he thought he was going. Instead he was heading to someone else's energy, a namekian who was currently dying as they speak.

Gohan sighed as he had been waiting with nothing to do. Until he felt 2 energies coming to the ship, one feeling like Krillin's but the other too weak to be Piccolo's. When he flew off to go meet them, he was overjoyed to see Dende.

"Gohan, what's the status of the saiyans?" asked Krillin, unsure why everyone hadn't greeted them back.

"Vegeta went to get some rest and the other one is currently inside watching over Tien and Yamcha. I was sent outside to watch over the dragon balls." explained Gohan.

Krillin looked quite pleased to hear that information. "Heh heh, this is perfect. While Tien and Yamcha are busy distracting Nappa, we can take the dragon balls and move somewhere else to buy us time to make our wish."

All 3 of them surpressed their energy as much as they could and moved to grab the dragon balls. Considering nobody came out to stop them, they were to assume nobody sensed them. They picked up the dragon balls and flew away a good distance before setting them down. "Yeah! We did it!" shouted Krillin.

Gohan twitched as he sensed something powerful far off heading their way. "U-Uh guys? I don't think that's Piccolo, is it?"

Krillin turned his head to where Gohan sensed the energy and went completely pale. "T-That's Freeza! Dende, quick! Summon the dragon!"

Dende quickly turned to the dragon balls and started shouting in namekian. Once he did, the dragon balls began to glow and the sky went pitch black.

Nappa was quick to notice the fact the sky went dark outside the window. At first he thought it was a storm, but then recalled their conversation and quickly put 2 and 2 together. He busted a hole into the side of the ship and flew out, looking around and spotting the earthlings with the dragon balls. Before he could head towards them, he was put back by the fact an enormous monster rose up from where they were. "What the hell is that thing?! Is that the dragon they were talking about?!" He growled and flew over to the earthling, getting there in no time flat. "Hey, what do you think you're doing you cheeky maggots?!"

"N-Nappa! W-Well you see.." said Krillin, but he couldn't quite find a reasonable enough excuse to be spared by the saiyan.

Raditz, on King Kai's world, spoke directly into Nappa's head with the help of King Kai. "Hey dumbass! Can't you feel that power off in the distance?! There's no time to fight about this! Use the damn dragon to bring be back!"

Nappa flinched as he could hear Raditz's voice in his head. Before he could question it, he indeed picked up on Freeza's approach. While he knew he should go back and report to Vegeta, he was far too tempted to bring Raditz back to life just so they could finish what they started. "Fine! Namekian, bring back a saiyan called Raditz!"

Dende nodded and shouted to the dragon in namekian. The dragon, Porunga, nodded as his eyes glew, fulfilling the wish. "You're wish has been granted. You have 2 more wishes left."

"Good! Now for the second wish, send me to Namek!" demanded Raditz.

Nappa was hesitant to ask for that wish, since that would mean only either he or Vegeta would get immortality and not both, but his temptation was too much to resist. "Namekian, wish Raditz to Namek, now!"

Dende nodded and made the wish. Once Porunga confirmed that the wish was made, everyone looked around to see where Raditz was but couldn't see him. "Where is he? He's not here." asked Gohan.

"W-Wait, you mean you wanted me to bring him directly to us?!" asked a nervous Dende.

At that time, Vegeta woke up from sensing Freeza's approaching power level. He looked out the window and saw it was night time. Yamcha and Tien tried to stall the saiyan prince from leaving but were unable to, instead forced to follow him straight to the dragon. "Well well well. I figured you earthlings would attempt to double-cross me the moment the chance arose. But for you to betray me as well. Where has your loyalty gone, Nappa?"

"W-Wait, Vegeta! We still have one more wish left! We can grant you immortality still!" said Nappa, shaking a bit even though he was just as strong as Vegeta.

All the earthlings looked at each other and knew that they didn't have the strength to argue. Plus giving Vegeta immortality was likely better than letting Freeza have it. "Dende, let him have his wish!" shouted Krillin.

Vegeta chuckled at how compliant the short earthling was being. "Good. You know what to do." he said to Dende.

Dende nodded hesitantly and turned around, preparing to make the final wish when Porunga suddenly vanished and the dragon balls dropped to the ground as stones. "P-Porunga! Oh no, this means the Grand Elder is dead!"

"What?! But that means I didn't become immortal! And if I'm not immortal, then that m-means.." His words cut off as he looks up on top of a cliff.

Everyone else looked to see what he was looking at and everyone went pale. They'd been too busy arguing that they failed to notice Freeza had already arrived.

"I must say, this is the first time in my life where someone has successfully made a fool of me. Now I'll never have my wish for becoming immortal." said Freeza, swatting his tail against the ground, creating a crater. "The only think that could possibly calm me down will be your lives!"

* * *

 **Oh boy, another one done. And I gotta say, this one was probably my favorite one so far. Ginyu was pretty short lived but we all know how that was going to go. Though this change in the story does mean that if I actually decide to continue on into Dragon Ball Super, Ginyu won't be making a return. Though no promises I'll even go that far. I was also suggested to let Yamcha and Tien to fight Ginyu Goku but I've already thought of how to make them useful in the fight against Freeza. Anyway, I really hope you like this one because I had a blast writing it. I really want to hear your feedback for this one so go ahead and leave a review. And while you're at it, follow and/or favorite this story. I'd highly appreciate it. That's all I have to say. Tune in next time for the next truly exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	17. The wrath of Freeza A savior appears!

All of the earthlings and Dende backed away as Freeza was shouting in fury, the ground quaking under his immense might. Freeza turned his eye to see Nappa, surprised to see that the saiyan was alive. "So another miserable saiyan has been hiding out. No wonder the number of people on my scouter was oddly high. It doesn't matter. That just means lives to quell my wrath!" He started screaming in rage as his power continued to rise, being higher than the earthlings could ever have predicted.

"Ngh.. That strength, how could we possibly stand up to something like that?" asked Tien, trembling under the emperor's pure power.

Freeza chuckled as he turned his attention towards the 3-eyed human. "Of course not. Regardless of their advantage in numbers, 6 ants could never stand up to a dinosaur."

"Are you sure about that Freeza?" asked Vegeta, standing his ground even under the tyrant's terrifying strength. "I've seen what these earthlings can do, they're not easy to pick off when ganging up on someone. And the boy there, he's certainly got potential. Nappa has also gotten surprisingly strong, enough to make him and I all that are necessary to take you on. As for me, I can feel it. My ascension is near. My ascension to a Super Saiyan!"

Freeza looked a bit stunned for a brief moment before chuckling to himself again. "How amusing. You saiyans may have a much higher power level than I ever expected to see you possess, but to go as far as to call yourself that old myth of your race is truly absurd. If you truly are a Super Saiyan, then why don't you come and show me!" He launched himself at the saiyan prince, throwing a punch for his face.

Vegeta managed to catch Freeza's arm just in time to stop the attack from landing, but began to struggle to hold it back. Nappa rushed in to save Vegeta, but the emperor threw a punch at him too, forcing the elite saiyan to block to punch with his arm. Freeza tried to power through the saiyan duo but was shocked to find out they were plenty capable of holding him back.

Tien refused to sit around anymore. He pointed a finger at the terrifying alien. "Dodon Ray!" He fired a yellow beam from his finger and shot it at Freeza, catching him off guard and blasting through the scouter, landing right in the eye.

Freeza leapt back after taking the attack and growled, his eye undamaged but temporarily blinded. "Insufferable creature! You will be the first to die once I'm done with these 2." He turned his gaze back to the saiyans. "As for the both of you, it would seem that I made an underestimation. It seems there may be some weight to your words after all."

"Go on then, Freeza. Show us your transformation and take us on at your full strength. Otherwise you're just gonna look pathetic down in hell." said Vegeta, crossing his arms and smirking.

Freeza's eyes widened a little in surprise. "Well this is a surprise. How in the world did you ever learn about that?"

Nappa chuckled as he joined in on the conversation. "That idiot Zarbon let it slip. Expecting us to die, he let slip quite a few things you probably wanted left in the dark."

Freeza lowered his head and chuckled even more, a bit more maniacally than before. "Very well, I can see you saiyans are just as battle hungry as ever. Very well, I'll show you the true face of death with my transformation!"

Backing up a little in time, Piccolo continued to fly in the direction in which he believed was. Once he approached the power he was sensing, he was shocked to see that this person was completely messed up and on the verge of death. He landed next to this dying namekian and examined him. "Hey, can you speak."

Nail opened his eyes and gazed upon the namekian standing in front of him, completely shocked at how powerful this namekian's power was compared to himself, the strongest namekian. "So you're the namekian that the earthlings spoke of. I take it you're the part that got split off?"

Piccolo grumbled as was apparently rumored about. "Yeah, you could say that. You look pretty young. I take it you aren't this Grand Elder I was told to find, are you?"

Nail coughed up a little blood and groaned. "No, I'm not. I can already feel that the Grand Elder's life has ended. Whether your friends managed to perform their wish or not is something I don't know."

Piccolo clenched his fist as he came all this way for nothing then. He purposefully avoided contact with Freeza to get the power boost that Krillin had been talking about, but now it seems that was a waste of time. "Damn. I'm afraid I can't help you. I'll have to leave you here to die while I got deal with that bastard."

Nail grabbed onto Piccolo's leg weakly, unable to hold an actual grip on it. "Wait. You came this way looking to receive a boost of power from the Grand Elder, correct? Then merge with me. You'll obtain an even greater power than the Grand Elder would have given you."

Piccolo's ears twitched as it was quite an interesting offer. And considering the circumstances, there was only one question in his mind that kept him from accepting. "What'll happen to my individuality if I do merge with you?"

"Fear not, for your individuality shall remain yours. Some of my own personality will merge with yours as well as you gaining my memories, but you'll still remain as you are." said Nail, coughing up a little more blood. "All you must do is put your hand upon my body."

Piccolo grumbled as he was short on time, if he had any at all. He knelt down and placed his hand upon Nail's arm. "Very well, just do it quickly. You know as well as I do that we're pressed for time."

Nail chuckled and closed his eyes. His entire body began to glow, the light enveloping Piccolo as well. The light didn't last long as Nail's body was nowhere in sight, leaving Piccolo by himself.

Piccolo looked at his hand and threw a punch, shocked to see just how fast it was. "This.. This is amazing! I feel incredible! I can win! I feel great! I! Can! Do! This!" He turns his head to where the others are. "Don't worry Gohan. I'll be there soon." He then started flying towards at incredible speeds, too impressed with his own speed to notice a rather familiar power level not too far off.

Around that same time, Raditz was flying around Namek, trying to get a gauge on everything. He'd spend a whole month without having any means to practice sensing energy and was having trouble to sensing the others on this vast empty planet. "Damn, this would be real handy to have my scouter right about now." During his flight, he sensed a rather weak power level below and flew down to it, regardless of who it was. He landed in the middle of a crevice and was greeted with the sound of screaming behind him. He turned around to see a woman with blue hair was the source of the screaming. _Hmm, she looks familiar._

"I-I don't know why you're here, but I swear, I don't know where the others are." shouted Bulma, backing up in terror as she wasn't sure if Raditz was friendly. She bumped into the small table, causing the scouter she'd been working on to collapse to the ground.

Raditz went wide-eyed as he looked at the scouter, recognizing it as his own. He walked over and picked it up, placing it onto his head, knowing for sure it was his considering it slipped on perfectly. He turned his head to look at Bulma. "You, what were you doing with this?"

"T-That? I was just using the parts from the other 3 scouters that the others left me to fix it up. Gohan seemed rather attached to it so I chose to put all the equipment into it, despite 2 of them others being better models." said Bulma, unsure what he'd do if she lied to him. Then again, she doesn't know what he might do to her for telling the truth either.

Raditz smirked as he wrapped his arm around her waist, throwing her over his shoulder. He was responded with being yelled at and the woman repeatedly punching the back of his armor. "You better hang on tight. I believe I saw Kakarot's ship on the way here. You'll be safer there." Bulma then wrapped her arms tightly against the saiyan as he flew off to the ship, getting there in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Bulma yelped as she was dropped onto the floor of the ship. _Ugh, guess gentleness isn't a saiyan trait._ She got back up to her feet and looked up into Raditz's eyes. "So what're you gonna do now?"

Raditz turned on his scouter and widened his eyes as he read the numbers on the visor. He'd never imagined that a scouter would be able to handle reading numbers this high before, even if it was from a distance. He chuckled and shut it off. He took off the scouter and handed it to Bulma. "Hold onto this for me. If I make it back, I'll want it back." Without any more words, he flew out of the ship and off to where the others were, unaware how much time had passed and how much of the fight had already happened.

Back to the present location, Freeza forcefully blasted his battle armor off. Everyone looked at the emperor a little confused. Their confusion was cleared shortly after once he started screaming, his energy rising rapidly and each individual body part growing larger. By the time he as finished, he towered over even Nappa and possessed large horns that curved upwards. The tyrant looked upon each of the fighters standing before him, looking satisfied as every one of them was trembling in fear. "It's been a while since I've transformed, I might have trouble holding back to torture you."

Yamcha hid behind the larger saiyan, more scared than anyone else. "H-Hey. You guys can still take him, right?"

Having overheard the question, Freeza decided to interrupt and answer first. "That's a good question. Do you saiyans think you can take on someone with a power level of over one million? Let's just see." He raised his hand and unleashed his full strength, causing the ground underneath everyone to suddenly explode and launch everyone away, including the saiyans. Krillin flew and shielded Dende, flying a good distance away from Freeza once the debris splashed down into the water. "Now that I've finished warming up, it's time to choose who dies first." He looked among the group of whelps before him, having 7 targets to choose from. His gaze locked onto Tien, remembering the attack earlier. "How about you!"

Before Tien could even budge an inch, Freeza had already flown at him and impaled the earthling with his horn. Tien coughed up blood as the injury was grave, just barely missing a vital organ. "I-If you think I'm dying easy, you got another thing coming." He brought his hands together and arranged his fingers to form a triangle. "Tri-Beam!" He unleashed his attack, shocking everyone as it sent Freeza flying and crashing down into the water. He grunted and put his hand against his gaping hole. That attack deals a heavy toll on the body and his was certainly in no condition to be using it.

Yamcha grit his teeth as one of his best friends was on the verge of dying. He held out his hand and formed a Spirit Ball. He turned his head towards Krillin. "Krillin! Throw a Destructo Disc!"

Krillin looked a bit shocked at Yamcha giving orders but wasn't going to complain. He let go of Dende and held his hand above his head, forming a spinning blade made of energy. The moment he watched Freeza burst out of the water, he chucked the disc at the tyrant, Yamcha doing the same with his technique.

Freeza went wide-eyed as he saw the spinning blade coming for him, knowing exactly what that attack did. He ducked quickly, dodging both the Destructo Disc and the Spirit Ball. "Alright, which one of you dared to throw that?!"

Yamcha growled as he directed his Spirit Ball into the Destructo Disc, not only putting its energy into the deadly attack, but also giving him control of it. He threw his arm back to force the disc to head back towards Freeza.

Freeza managed to hear the disc coming back from behind and literally cut it close, ducking once again, but this time the blade completely severed his horns. The alien winced in pain as his horns dropped into the water below. "You wretches! How dare you do such a thing to the great lord Freeza!"

Freeza's yelling along with Tien's bleeding wound was enough to trigger Gohan's rage, screaming loudly and raising his hands into the air. "Shut up! You'll pay for what you've done!" He threw his hands down at Freeza and fired 2 beams at the emperor, spiraling around each other just like Raditz did against Nappa on Earth.

Freeza was too blinded by his rage to see the attack coming until it had already hit him, getting launched down against a small island. He managed to calm down a bit thanks to the hit, though it hadn't hurt him. "I guess I got carried away. Looks like I know who I'm killing next." Before he could even move, the ground sudden;y caved in and he got launched into the chasm.

The hole in the ground was perfectly square in shape, meaning only one person could have done it. Everyone turned to look at Tien, who looked better than ever. Dende was right behind him, clearly healing the earthling. "There's more where that came from! Tri-Beam!" Tien fired another Tri-Beam attack at Freeza, pinning the emperor inside the hole to take the attack.

Nappa began to laugh as this actually made things simple. "You got spunk, earthling. Maybe you could teach me that trick sometime. But for now, how about one of my own!" He surrounded his hand in energy and swung his hand up, creating his geyser-like attack right inside the whole where Freeza was unable to escape.

Yamcha fist pumped both his arms at how surprisingly well this was going. "Krillin! Let's join in on this!" The smaller earthling nodded and flew right next to Yamcha. Both of them put their hands together and put them behind them, taking the exact same stance. "Ka.. Me.. Ha.. Me.. Ha!" Both of them fired a large blue beam towards the square crater, the beams joining together to form an even larger beam the crashed on top of Freeza. The combined energy of all these techniques colliding on the emperor was enough to create an astronomical explosion, causing everyone to stop. Tien had to stop anyway as he'd used more Tri-beams than he can handle, even with Dende continuously healing him.

Freeza grunted in fury as he rose from the smoke, his body bruised up from all of the attacks, even bleeding a little. He glared at all the opponents he was up against and grit his teeth. "I'm amazed. A bombardment like that would have killed anyone else. It's a shame, you'd have done quite well in my army if you can hurt me that much. But now is the time to say goodbye."

While Freeza was busy monologuing, Gohan had attempted to sneak up behind Freeza, his anger still acting up. He prepared to fire all of his energy against Freeza's back, but the tyrant had caught on, swatting the child as hard as he could with his tail, sending the halfling flying and crashing against the ground, a good number of his bones already broken from just a single hit.

While all of this was going on, Vegeta had been staring at Dende, shocked that the namekian runt was capable of healing wounds that drastic. It was only until a strong power level was approaching the battlefield, that the saiyan prince snapped out of his daze and returned focus to the battlefield. To his, and everyone elses' shock, Piccolo had shown up as if out of nowhere. The namekian's unnaturally high power was enough to freak everyone out. That is except for Freeza, who couldn't sense power levels.

Piccolo turned his head to look at everyone, genuinely surprised that they're all fine. That is except for Gohan. Seeing the namekian's pupil broken was enough to anger him. "All of you, sit this one out. Get Gohan some help, I'll deal with Freeza."

Freeza stared at the namekian and felt both confused and intrigued. "Well well, I didn't expect to find another namekian on this planet. I could have sworn I wiped you all out. Not to mention you look a lot like the namekian I dealt with earlier."

Piccolo scowled and roared out as he rushed at Freeza, putting everyone into shock when they could barely see him move. Piccolo landed an easy punch against Freeza and sent the tyrant flying. "That's for all the namekians you needlessly slaughtered." He held his hand out and fired a large explosive blast in Freeza's direction, engulfing the alien in the destructive wave of energy. "And that's for harming Gohan."

Freeza roared in anger and parted the wave of energy, panting as he was in disbelief that this was happening. "You may have gotten the drop on me before, but let's see you handle this." He aimed his hand at Piccolo and fired a large ball of energy at the namekian, putting everything he can into the blast.

Piccolo watched as the ball came at him, chuckling at how pathetic it was. Piccolo pulled his arm back and punched the ball in the center, the force of the punch launching the ball at Freeza with even more speed than what it was fired with.

Freeza managed to tank the blast and was in even more shock as this namekian was capable of this much power, overpowering his 2nd form. "You're quite the capable warrior, I'll give you that. But I didn't become emperor of the universe merely with this power alone. Now witness as I show you my 2nd transformation!" He screaming as his head started expanding backwards, spikes growing on his back and extending head. His shoulders also extended out needlessly. Once his transformation was complete, even Piccolo was shocked at this monster's power, especially since all the damage that everyone had dealt to Freeza was healed up. "So, what do you think?"

Piccolo chuckled as he started taking off his weighted clothing. They were light as a feather to him, but he didn't want them limiting his movements. "Let's just see if that new form of yours holds some bite to it." He rushed at Freeza and the 2 of them started trading multiple blows with each other.

While those 2 were seemingly fighting on even ground, the rest were watching from a safe distance. Tien was back to full strength thanks to Dende's healing and was eager to get back in the fight to at least help. Dende was off healing Gohan and bringing the halfling back to full strength. Krillin and Yamcha on the other hand had been pulled away by the saiyans. "Look, we don't have time to deal with this. We need to be ready to distract Freeza again in case Piccolo needs healing."

"While that sounds like an idea, I have a better one. We need you to blast us to an inch of our lives!" demanded Vegeta, catching the earthlings and Nappa off guard.

At that moment, Freeza had found an opening and fired a beam right into Piccolo's shoulder, disabling the namekian's arm. Thanks to the handicap, Freeza was then free to fire a barrage of beams at Piccolo, quickly racking up damage on the namekian.

Once Gohan was restored to full strength and witnessed what was happening to Piccolo, his anger immediately exploded, flying at Freeza at full speed. The tyrant was able to tell the brat was coming and attempted to hit the child with his tail again. Gohan dodged this time however and landed a swift kick to the tyrant's face, launching him back. Gohan then fired a powerful Masenko attack at Freeza, forcefully pushing the tyrant back.

Freeza seemed to struggle against the blast at first, but effortlessly pushed it right back at Gohan. Nappa summoned up an energy geyser to launch the Masenko into the sky. Freeza comfortably landed on the ground and examined the child. "How strange. That blast had far more power than his earlier one, not to mention he should have been dying a moment ago. Wait.. Is he a saiyan?! No, that can't be right. He looks nothing like Nappa, and Vegeta has shown no attachment to him. Could Raditz have had a child and I didn't know about it?!"

Witnessing what had just happened, Vegeta turned back to the earthlings and grabbed hold of Krillin. "You know that we saiyans get stronger when recover from near death. That namekian child can heal me after you 2 almost kill us. Then we'll have enough power to deal with Freeza, even in his final form!"

Nappa grinned as he was suddenly on board with this plan. He turned to Yamcha. "Yeah, there's no way Freeza will be able to take us on if we gain a power boost!"

"Alright, I know it's a simple matter of wiping you out right now, but seeing as you're all dead anyway, I shall show you my ultimate power, my final form!" shouted Freeza, beginning to scream again as his power level began to rise up rapidly and his body began to glow.

Only able to imagine what Freeza's final form would look like, Krillin grit his teeth and fired a blast right throw Vegeta's chest. Yamcha hesitated but the did the same to Nappa.

Both of the saiyans started falling to the ground, but Vegeta was simply laughing. "At last, my ascension has arrived."

Around this time, Raditz had shown up inside Freeza's ship. He could clearly feel that the battle was a bit of a distance away, but he sensed a faint energy here and had to check it out, making sure it wasn't Gohan or Piccolo. He looked inside and saw Kakarot inside the pod. "Damnit.. Damnit!" He punched the wall right next to the pod, busting a hole through it. "I finally get to see you again and I can't even have a proper conversation with you yet. Freeza, I swear. I will make you pay!" He was about to run out when he noticed something peculiar on the floor. He knelt down and picked it up. It was some sort of bean that looked vaguely familiar, suddenly realizing this was the same kind of bean that Kakarot tried to feed him while he was on his deathbed and said it would heal him. "I don't know what this is doing here, But I think I'll keep it with me." He held the bean tightly in his hand and flew out of the ship to go meet with the others.

Dende looked at the 2 saiyans with disbelief as he was being asked to kill them, knowing full well that these guys were responsible for the death of an entire village. However, he was willing to heal them, on account that the Grand Elder saw something in Nappa to be able to trust him, heal him, and unlock his potential. Upon healing the saiyans, Dende flew off to go heal up Piccolo.

Freeza witnessed as the namekian child healed the stronger namekian and seeing all the damage on Piccolo fading, grinning as he knew exactly what to do. The area around Freeza suddenly exploded as he finished his transformation. Once the smoke cleared, everyone gazed in shock and terror at Freeza's final form. He was a lot smaller and sleeker than his other transformations, but knew full well that this was a classic case of 'don't judge a book by its cover.' Freeza raised up a single finger and aimed it at Dende, firing a beam that seemed to move instantaneously, creating a large explosion.

Everyone turned to face the source of the explosion, looking petrified at the cloud of smoke enveloping Dende right now. "Dende, no!" shouted Gohan, his rage about to explode. It immediately calmed down as everyone saw the dust settle and witnessed Dende was completely fine, having been shielded by a familiar long-haired saiyan.

Raditz ate the senzu bean to recover from the drastic wounds that he'd just accumulated. He took a deep breath as all his strength returned and even felt more powerful thanks to it. He chuckled and stared Freeza dead in the eye, something he never thought he could do without shaking in fear. "It's been a long time Lord Freeza. Mind if I join the fun?"

* * *

 **And that, my dear readers, is my favorite chapter thus far. Now before I get on with personal comments and get complaints, I need to answer some information. 1. The reason why things turned out better in the fight against Freeza's 2nd form is because of Tien's involvement. The Tri-beam (or Kikoho for any of you weebs out there) is a miracle technique that is able to suppress even the biggest of baddies, like when he completely immobilized 2nd form Cell. And he's a reckless enough fighter to use it even in the worst of situations like when he fired it at Nappa with only one arm in the original canon. 2. Piccolo being much stronger than 2nd form Freeza and being equal with 3rd form Freeza. He's my logic: In the canon, Piccolo barely trained on King Kai's planet, which has 10x Earth's gravity, for roughly a week. In this story, Piccolo sparred and trained with Goku in an environment with 100x gravity in that same amount of time. Add the fact that the fusion with Nail is a huge boost, he'd be able to hold his own at this point. Lastly, Raditz surviving a shot from Final Form Freeza. I know that seemed ridiculous but I'll explain how he did in the next chapter. I don't really have anything else to add to this except for me not being able to resist Piccolo using that ridiculous chant to himself after fusing with Nail. It's just too hilarious. Anyway, tune in for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	18. The saiyans' last stand Freeza's demise

Freeza looked on in utter shock, not only at the sight of Raditz, but also that the saiyan survived an attack in his final form. "This is an honest surprise. I can understand Nappa hiding out, but I know for a fact that Vegeta killed you. Or was that just another ruse?"

Raditz chuckled, crossing his arms as he looked upon the emperor without fear. "That's a good question, isn't it? Though you should really stop asking questions you have no interest in listening to. You'll ruin your reputation."

Freeza looked upon Raditz in shock that he was retort to him in such a matter. He then began to laugh a bit. "I must say, you always had a bit of charm that the other saiyans seemed to lack. It's because of that charm and the surprising fact that you survived my attack that I'll leave you for last. Now, step aside so that I may kill that namekian behind you."

Raditz shook his head, staring confidently at the tyrant whom he used to take orders from. "I'm afraid I don't take orders from you anymore. Or for anyone for that matter." He quickly looked at Vegeta, then back to Freeza.

Freeza lost his smile at the refusal of the saiyan. "Typical saiyan. Even when I allow you a chance to live longer, you refuse to do as I ask. Very well then, I suppose you'll die first." He lifted his hand up to the saiyan and fired a beam from his finger.

Raditz narrowed his eyes and prepared for it, suddenly raising his power for a split second to strike the beam away, sending it to destroy a distant mountain. His hand twitched a little but wasn't badly injured.

Freeza widened his eyes as the supposedly weakest saiyan had just deflected one of his attacks, with little injury for that matter. "How did you do that? Something happened just then, tell me."

The saiyan smirked as he knelt down a little, as if he were preparing to attack. "If it really means that much to you, I suppose I can give you a taste. Kaio-Ken times 5!" His body became engulfed in a red aura as he launched himself at Freeza with surprising speed, landing a kick to the alien ruler and knocking him back a good distance. After the kick, the saiyan powered back down.

Freeza stopped himself and grunted. He brushed off the area that had gotten hit and smiled. "Well that was surprising. I might have misjudged you. Though for that, I will make you suffer." He turned his eyes to the group of people apposing him, locking his eyes on Gohan. "Perhaps killing that son of yours would be a good start."

Raditz tilted his head a little in confusion and looked over at Gohan. "Gohan? Sorry Freeza, but I'm afraid you've got it wrong. That brat right there isn't my son, but my nephew."

Freeza narrowed his eyes, curious about that. _That would suggest that he has a sibling who had a child. But that brat is too young to be from when I destroyed planet Vegeta. Could that mean that there are saiyans out there who escaped my watch? That doesn't bode well._ "Well then, if it's your nephew, then I'm sure the results will be the same!" He fired yet another energy beam, this time directed at Gohan.

Nappa moved in the way and lunged his hand forward to counter the beam with a Bomber DX attack. It didn't necessarily stop the beam but did weaken it enough to let the saiyan elite last against it. "I don't think so. You got beef with the saiyans, you deal with us first."

Vegeta looked at Nappa and felt just a bit proud of his underling standing up to Freeza. While he does have mixed emotions about Raditz in the current situation, right now he was just glad to have a capable fighter able to keep up with Freeza's final form. "That's right Freeza. You've held your grip on us for too long. Zarbon told me you feared a revolt of the saiyans, and now your worst nightmares will be realized. Especially now that I've become a Super Saiyan!"

Freeza simply laughed at the saiyan prince's words. "You saiyans say the most ridiculous things. It's honestly sad really. You've grown this powerful and you refuse to take part in my army any longer. Oh well, I never planned for you saiyans to live forever anyway." He then vanished with a burst of speed, showing up behind Vegeta.

The saiyan prince turned his head as he was one of the few actually capable of keeping track of Freeza at this point. He dodged a kick to the head from the tyrant, throwing his own punch at Freeza, only to be easily dodged. Nappa tried using his Blast Geyser technique on Freeza, but wasn't actually able to land the hit. The saiyan duo then rushed at Freeza and constantly tried to hit him, neither of them landing a single blow.

Raditz watched as his former companions couldn't land a hit on Freeza. He turned to everyone else. "All of you, get to a safe spot but don't leave our sight!" He then boosted his power with the Kaio-Ken and rushed at Freeza, just barely missing a punch.

Freeza narrowed his eyes at the saiyan as he threw a punch at the long haired saiyan, a bit surprised to see that it didn't do as much damage as expected, despite launch the saiyan pretty high up into the air.

Raditz grunted and looked at his hands. _I gotta hand it to that King Kai. This technique is perfect. Sure, I gotta time it right, but using it to strengthen up, speed up or raise my defenses to withstand his attacks is terrific._ "Alright Freeza, how about this! Double Sunday!" He collected the energy into his hands and and fired down at Freeza. As he saw Freeza disappear, he didn't hesitate to put on a new spin to this attack that he'd been working on. He activated the Kaio-Ken and started spinning rapidly, raising his arms up so that the attack hit just about every direction, catching even Freeza by surprise and grazing the emperor. Raditz panted as he'd never used the trick while alive, or on normal gravity so he was feeling a bit dizzy.

Freeza glared at the mark that Raditz's attack had left. He raised his hand up to fire an energy beam at the vulnerable saiyan, only to stop and swipe his tail at Nappa. Nappa took the hit from the tail and grabbed hold of it. "What's this? Did you really think my tail would have the same vulnerability that yours do?"

Nappa chuckles as her tightens his grip, tempted to use the trick that he used against Recoome on Freeza's tail, but needed him to be calm. "Well, not really. But it does help to make this work."

Freeza looked puzzled by the saiyan's words, then realized he hadn't seen Vegeta with him. He turned his head up to see the saiyan prince fire a Galick Gun down towards him. He kicked the larger saiyan away and held his hands up to stop the beam attack. He then heard Nappa scream and saw that the saiyan threw his hand up. He recognized this attack and started using his psychic powers to restrain the blast from bursting out below him.

Raditz grunted as he saw Freeza fending off the attacks of the 2 other saiyans. He looked at his right arm and grunted. _I haven't been able to perfect this technique yet, but the point where I've gotten it to should be enough!_ "Kaio-Ken times 10!" His body was engulfed in an even large red aura than before. He took a deep breath and started focussing. The red aura started to shift and move towards his right arm, surrounding only it in the red aura. He groaned in pain at how damaged his arm was already getting so he had to act fast. He flew at Freeza as fast as he could.

Freeza saw the saiyan incoming and attempted to slam his tail against the saiyan's neck. He landed his mark and it seemed to deal a heavy hit against the saiyan. However, Raditz did manage to land the punch he was going for, striking it against Freeza's stomach. The emperor widened his eyes in pain at the surprisingly powerful attack and buckled over, that moment of pain enough to drop his guard and no longer hold back the 2 attacks, getting caught in a large explosion that launched the saiyan back.

Nappa caught Raditz as he was about to fly past. "I got ya." He went wide-eyed to see that Raditz's right arm was jacked up to hell. _What the hell did he just do? He hit Freeza once and his arm's that messed up?_ Vegeta flew down and looked to the other saiyans, just as shocked to see the low class saiyan's arm broken beyond belief.

Freeza emerged from the smoke created by the explosion. He wiped his mouth and saw that some blood had been drawn. He became outright furious that a saiyan like Raditz had been able to harm him so much in his final form, even if he was holding back. "You saiyans are a very bothersome lot. Super Saiyan or not, you've become the nightmare that I very much despise."

Raditz stiffened and began to chuckle. "Well I hate to break it to ya Freeza, but that nightmares about to get a lot worse." Mere moments after speaking, both Nappa and Vegeta realized what he was talking, feeling a large power level moving towards them at great speeds. In seconds after sensing it, a familiar sight of orange and blue showed up between the saiyans and Freeza.

Goku turned his head to look at the saiyans behind him. Concerned with why Raditz's arm is messed up, though doesn't have the time to worry about that right now. He turned his head back to Freeza. "So you're Freeza, huh? Listen, these guys owe me a fight, you'll just have to wait your turn if you want to fight them."

Freeza looked stunned. Not did this mysterious stranger looked ominously familiar, but he had the gall to tell him to stop fighting. "And just who are you to tell me, Lord Freeza, what to do?"

Raditz grunted as the pain in his arm only worsened as time progressed. _Damnit. I really need to strengthen my body if I'm gonna perfect that technique. Wait, what am I thinking?! Now is not the time!_ "Kakarot, it's good to see you again."

Freeza's eyes nearly bulged out of his head in surprise. "Kakarot? Isn't that a saiyan name? That's it, now I know why he looks familiar. He looks just like that saiyan who rebelled against me before planet Vegeta's destruction. What was his name, Bardock?"

Raditz gasped as he heard Freeza's little revelation. Every fiber of his being ran cold, than to a brimming boil. "Did you just say Bardock?"

Freeza stared passed Goku and at Raditz. "Yes, he was a rather disturbing fellow. A fool to take try and take me and my entire army on all by himself. To think his foolish blood has been passed down to another fool who dares to stand before me."

Raditz grit his teeth, his power unexpectedly rising with his fury. "Bardock.. Bardock was a great man! A proud saiyan warrior who showed the best qualities of the lower class! My father was not a fool, but a the greatest saiyan to ever live!" He raised his left arm and unleashed the Kaio-Ken times 10, firing a devastating Saturday Crush at the tyrant.

Freeza looked honestly shocked to hear that Raditz say that he was the son of the saiyan who opposed him first. It only fueled his anger enough to not hold back, swatting the giant sphere of energy into the sky and shooting it with a beam, forcing it to detonate. "I will say, I'm surprised to learn that man was your father. Had I known, I would have killed you on the spot."

Goku glared upon the tyrant. "You won't be killing anyone else, Freeza. If you want to get to them, you have take me on first."

Freeza sighed. "The son of a fool is a fool as well. That fact seems to be proven by the both of you. I'll just end this quickly." He launched himself Goku, attempting to land a ferocious kick, only for the saiyan to duck and kick Freeza in the head. Freeza caught himself and looked stunned. _What was that?_ He raised his hand and fired multiple beams at Goku, who deflected all of them. "What?! How did you do that?!"

Nappa watched in awe as Kakarot was completely holding his own. "Vegeta, I think it would be best to fall back." he said, whispering so that Freeza couldn't hear. "If Freeza fights Kakarot like this, we might be able to beat him once he's tired himself out."

Vegeta grit his teeth. The thought of backing out of this fight angered him, but his comrade had the right idea. "As much as I hate the idea, you're right. No point getting caught in the crossfire." He then flew off to where the earthlings and namekians are.

Raditz grunted as he wasn't able to fly due to the pain in his arm. Nappa offered to take him and the low class warrior nodded. "Kakarot, don't show him any mercy, none whatsoever." He was then carried off to the others.

Everyone surrounded Raditz as they saw the shape he was in. Dende ran up and started healing the saiyan. "Hmm, my healing seems a bit slow on this injury, but it'll heal up properly."

Raditz looked at the namekian child with a scary stare. He raised his uninjured arm above the child, making the kid think he was about to be killed. Raditz gently placed his hand on the namekian's head. "Consider this making us even for earlier."

Dende laughed and continued healing. Meanwhile, Vegeta was watching the fight between Freeza and Kakarot commence. Vegeta felt his pride shake at the sight of Kakarot holding his own against Freeza better than all 3 of the other saiyans did when working together, though it did please him to see someone finally giving Freeza what he deserves.

Nappa walked up from behind and watched with Vegeta. "So what do you think, Vegeta? Think Kakarot still has a chance?"

"That remains to be seen. Then again, there's no guarantee that even we could take him on after he's killed Kakarot." answered Vegeta, crossing his arms, looking down and turning his head, his eyes widening as he realized Nappa's tail. "Perhaps we do." He turned around and looked at Raditz. "Hey, you still have your tail, right?"

Raditz blinked in surprise as the prince addressed him directly, not even adding an insult. He then raised his tail up for confirmation. "Yeah, I do. Don't you?"

Vegeta grumbled. "I lost it in the fight on Earth, but that's not what matters. If that namekian can get you and Nappa back into fighting strength, then we can pummel Freeza once and for all!"

Nappa widened his eyes and grinned. "That's right! That trick may not have worked on Zarbon, but with someone like Kakarot on our side, we'll have the time we need to pull it off!"

Piccolo narrowed his eyes. "Count me in too. I may not be as strong as Freeza in that form, but if these 4 pass their energy to me, I might be able to help in some regard. Besides, I have my own beef with him."

Vegeta scoffed and returned to watching the fight. "Very well, though don't complain from the afterlife if you get killed in the process."

Krillin put his hand up in front of Piccolo. "I don't think that's a good idea. The namekians already lost their way of using the dragon balls, there's no need for us to lose ours."

Raditz grunted as he got back to his feet, stretching his arm out now that it's back to fighting shape. "He's right you know. If any of this goes wrong, we'll need the Earth's dragon balls to bring everyone back. Besides, I think I got a plan to even the odds."

Everyone continued to watch the fight between Goku and Freeza, fluctuating between excitement and despair as Goku often seemed like was getting the upper hand, only for Freeza to prove them wrong by showing more of his power. Eventually, Goku unleashed a Kamehameha against Freeza using the Kaio-Ken times 20, though even that wasn't enough to take Freeza down or tire him. Raditz was about to jump in to help his brother when he witnessed Goku raise his hands to the sky, immediately recognizing that technique as King Kai had described it to him.

Krillin immediately recognized the attack as he remembered Goku using it on Vegeta back on Earth, and then had the saiyan explain it to him while they were in the hospital. "He's preparing the Spirit Bomb!"

Everyone turned their head to look at the earthling, unaware of what he was going on about. It then occurred to Vegeta that he recognized that position, though Kakarot had tried to hide away while preparing it. He then turned to look at the fighters, seeing Freeza just staring at the saiyan. "So that's what he's got up his sleeve, huh? He's got some nerve, holding that back the whole time."

This was Nappa's first time experience the technique so he was a little out of the loop. "I don't get it though. I don't sense any energy building up inside Kakarot. Besides, he doesn't have that much energy to begin with, does he?"

The saiyan's question was answered as they all sensed a powerful growth of energy overhead. They looked up and everyone went wide-eyed as they saw a massive blue ball of energy in the sky. Vegeta quivered as he remembered fighting Kakarot and the ball wasn't anywhere near that size. _J-Just how powerful an attack does he plan to hit Freeza with?!_ He grit his teeth and looked at the other saiyans. "This is it! Don't you dare mess this up!" He created a power ball in his hand and chucked it into the sky, forcing the ball to explode and mix with the atmosphere.

Nappa and Raditz stared at each other and chuckled, slamming their fists together. "Don't go losing control now, you hear?" said Nappa before staring into the sky, triggering the slow transformation into a Great Ape.

Raditz cackled as he saw his saiyan partner start to grow in size. "I haven't had that weakness since before I went to Earth. I've learned a great deal of control since then." He turned his head towards Dende. "You need to hide somewhere not too far away. We might need you to heal us once this is all said and done, and we don't want Freeza remembering you're here. The rest of you, get to a safer distance. If you're scared to get caught in the crossfire, head to Kakarot's ship. The earth woman is there as well."

Dende nodded nervously and flew off, staying close to the ground, heading back to where the dragon balls were. Everyone else flew to a safer distance, save for Vegeta, who refused to back away. "Don't screw this up Raditz. This is an important day for the saiyans, I'd like to see Freeza's death written into our history."

Raditz chuckled and nodded. He looked up at the ball of light in the sky, tensing up as his tail reacted to it, forcing him to start growing in size and hair. Once he and Nappa finished transforming, they looked at each other and nodded. Raditz flew off past Kakarot and Freeza while Nappa went straight for the emperor, using his tail to prevent hitting Kakarot.

Freeza was caught off guard from wondering why the saiyan before him was just raising his hands to the sky, vulnerable to the attack from the transformed saiyan. He turned his attention to what sent him flying and a vein in his head started to show as his anger only grew, seeing the Great Ape Nappa. "Filthy saiy- Agh!" He was cut off as Raditz punched Freeza into the ground.

Raditz picked Freeza up and tried to crush him in his hands, very much like how Vegeta tried to crush Kakarot on Earth. When the tyrant started forcing the grip open, Raditz performed that energy-hand trick he used on Nappa to better restrain the saiyan. Once he saw that Nappa was beginning to do the same, he realized what they should do.

The 2 saiyans held their open palms to each other, creating a ball of energy with electricity crackling around it, Freeza in the middle and entombed inside it. Freeza grunted as he'd never imagined that he'd be struggling against the power of a transformed saiyan, though the fact that it took 2 of them did ease him a little. "Filthy bastards! Do you really think I, Lord Freeza, would be done in by the likes of saiyan scum?!" He then slowly started to pull out of the attack.

Raditz growled as he knew he had to end this fast, otherwise he might catch on to the Spirit Bomb. "Maybe not us, but you will be killed by a saiyan. And history will not remember him by his saiyan name, but as the name he was raised with: Son Goku! Kaio-Ken times 3!" His massive body was surrounded in the red aura of the Kaio-Ken as he slams his free hand against Freeza, punching him into several mountains. Raditz then panted as the aura subsided.

Nappa looked impressed by that heavy hit. He looked up to check on the Spirit Bomb and saw that it had gotten bigger. "By the way, that Kaio whatever technique, didn't you use it up to times 10 before? Why didn't you do that, or at least times 5?"

Raditz groaned as he kept an eye out for Freeza. "The Kaio-Ken requires a great deal of control and even more so the more power you pull from it. In the Great Ape form, which already multiplies our power by a factor of 10, times 3 is the most I can get out of this." His eyes widened as he watched Freeza start to rise up, looking like he was finally done with all of this.

"You know, I think I've had enough with this. Between not getting my wish for immortality and you saiyans just coming out of the woodwork, I've just about had it with this planet. It's time I end it all!" He raised his hand, creating a ball of energy capable of destroying the planet, unaware that above him, the Spirit Bomb had finally finished charging up.

Raditz went wide-eyed as he sensed the the Spirit Bomb was ready to go, and that things could always go better for this situation. "Hey, Freeza! Take a look above you!" Once Freeza growled and looked up, his eyes went wide with shock at the massive ball of energy that he was too close to dodge. "Nappa, raise your hands up and give your power to the bomb!"

Nappa nodded in agreement as he raised his hands to the sky along with Raditz, both of them giving the massive amount of energy in their Great Ape bodies to the Spirit Bomb, making it grow a great deal bigger. Goku then hurled the bomb down at Freeza, pushing the tyrant down with ease. Freeza screamed while he futilely tried to push the bomb back, finding no such in doing so before the bomb crashed beneath the surface of water, creating a massive explosion that could be seen from a spacial view of the planet. Both the saiyans had managed to avoid getting caught in the blast. Raditz waded around and eventually found Goku, reaching down and pulling him out of the water.

Vegeta smiled, filled with joy as the man who had used him like a puppet all his life was finally dead, even if it wasn't by his own hands. He destroyed the power moon and forced the other saiyans back into their original forms. He then flew off to the saiyans to congratulate his subordinate, the earthlings all following behind him.

Gohan ran up to his dad and uncle, giving them both a big hug, harming Goku considering how bad he'd gotten beaten up. Tien and Yamcha couldn't help but laugh at the painful hug that their former rival had to deal with. Krillin helped Goku stand up. Vegeta gave Nappa proud smile, the latter smiling back in their achievements today. Piccolo looked at Raditz, and the both gave each other a rather manly handshake.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think we should head back home. Luckily, the ship I came on should get us back home in only 5 days. Though I'm not sure there's enough food for all of us. Especially considering.." Goku turned his head to Vegeta and Nappa. "Hey, you guys want to ride with us back to Earth? I'm sure we could find someplace for you to stay until we can get you off planet. Remember Vegeta, you promised me a fight."

Vegeta groaned at the idea of staying on that rock, though it wasn't the worst offer in the world. After all, he didn't have a place to take refuge anymore now that he's turned his back on what is left of Freeza's army. He turned his head to look at his partner for his thoughts on the matter, who looked fine with the idea. "Very well. We'll come back to Earth with you, though we'll be taking our pods back. I don't trust any of you to not attempt to kill us in our sleep."

Nappa chuckled as he turned to look at Raditz, who was engaged in a conversation with Piccolo. _Well, not all of them anyway._ He then turned his head and his blood went cold, turning pale as he looked beyond the others and saw a shocking sight, something that nobody seemed to have sensed because of the residue energy left behind by the Spirit Bomb. "F-Freeza!"

* * *

 **And that is the 18th chapter of this story. Hoo boy, did I get a kick out of this one. I'd been waiting for so long to write that part with Raditz using the Kaio-Ken as a Great Ape, even though it was just one time. I had originally planned to make that part a bit longer but it just would have been a situation like with the Kid Buu fight, Goku would have had the bomb ready but he couldn't use it because of someone on his side being in the way. Regardless, I really loved writing this chapter because it was all about the saiyans and laid the groundwork for the rest of the story. Also, I wanted your feedback on me actually writing the names of Nappa and Raditz's attack now, even though in canon they weren't named. I just wanted to see if you liked it so I could start giving names to these new techniques that I've been giving them, like the 'Blast Geyser' attack. Leave a review to let me know. That's it for this time, tune in next week for the next chapter. I plan on doing something big that you wouldn't have seen coming, ooh the secrecy makes me feel evil and I like it. That's all for now, tune in next time for the next great chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	19. The explosive wrath of a saiyan

Everyone turned their head and looked in horror as they saw the tyrant in horror. What really stood out was that Freeza was a lot bulkier than before, muscles that put even Nappa's to shame. "I honestly must say, I thought I was truly dead. I never believed I would be forced to use 100 percent of my power just to survive an attack. Allow me to repay you the pain I suffered, working up my list of grudges!" He turned his eyes to Tien and fired a large beam that pierced right through him, leaving a massive, gaping hole in the earthling's chest.

Everyone watched in horror as Tien collapsed to the ground, the life fading from his eyes rapidly. Goku turned his head to stare at Freeza. "Freeza, stop!"

The tyrant refused to listen, taking aim and firing at Piccolo. The namekian was more prepared for the attack and managed to only lose his arm. Though the sheer pain from the power of the blast knocked him unconscious, starting to bleed out as he wasn't able to regenerate his arm. Once the namekian was down, Freeza then turned his eyes to Krillin, remembering the pain of losing his horns. He grabbed a hold of the earthling with his psychic powers and launched the earthling to the sky.

Goku looked in complete fear as he watched his best friend get thrown to the sky. "Freeza, don't do it!" His pleas weren't heard, forced to watch as his best friend's body exploded. It was at that point that he snapped, grunting as every muscle in his body started to tense up.

Freeza was too seething with rage to notice. He then gazed up on the rest of him and his eyes locked onto Vegeta. "You, I know you're responsible for those giant apes. I won't allow you a second chance to do so!" He took aim and fired.

Vegeta watched in shock as the beam came right for him. He was too paralyzed in fear to move, knowing this was to be his death. But the beam never hit. Before it was bound to, the saiyan prince was pushed aside, Nappa being the one to be shot instead. Vegeta sat up and watched as his subordinate was bleeding.

Nappa coughed up a lot of blood as he held his hand out towards his superior. "Does.. This make us even.. For sparing me on Earth?" His hand then dropped to the ground, the lifeless body of the saiyan just lying there, a smile on his face.

Vegeta was in disbelief. He clenched his hand into a fist, getting back to his feet as he grit his teeth. "You.. heartless bastard.."

Freeza was also in disbelief and simply chuckled. "What a pointless effort. There wasn't any point in do that when you're just gonna die anyway." Before he could fire again, both Raditz and Yamcha grabbed hold of Freeze, trying to pin his arms. Freeza simply sighed. "I guess you'll never learn." He threw off the both of them with ease and was about to shoot at him when something felt off. There was an air of malice in the air, far greater than his own. He turned his eyes to the Goku and Vegeta, widening his eyes as he witnessed something extraordinary.

Both of the saiyans screamed out in anger, their power shooting through the roof, collapsing the very ground around them. That wasn't it either, both of their hair were standing upwards, no longer black but a bright yellow, as well as their eyes being a bright blue. Gohan, Raditz and Yamcha stared at the saiyans in surprise as their mere energy was enough to scatter the residue energy of the Spirit Bomb. "D-Dad?" asked Gohan.

"Gohan, Yamcha, grab Tien and Piccolo, get to the ship and go." ordered Goku, a hateful tone in his voice. As he watched them all hesitate, he grit his teeth and started shouted. "Get out of here right now, before I lose what little sense of reason I have left!"

While the 2 of them did as they were told, Vegeta turned his eyes to Raditz. "You, do the same for Nappa. He died a proud warrior, I don't want his body desecrated anymore from what I'm going to do to Freeza."

Raditz grunted and nodded, hoisting Nappa's corpse over his shoulder and faced where Goku's ship is. "Fine, but I'm not doing it because you told me to. I'm doing it because he's my ally." He then started to fly off to the ship, Gohan and Yamcha close behind.

Freeza growled as he was simply being ignored. "It's adorable how they think they're going to get away from me." He raised his hand up to fire upon the 3 targets, only for Goku to appear in front of him and grab his hand while Vegeta kicked the tyrant about a mile away from them, showing up near him in an instant. "What?! Where did that power come from?! There's no way you should be hurting me at my full power!"

Vegeta looks down into the water, seeing the water ripple from his overflowing power but was able to make out his reflection. "Hmph, I'm amazed. To think that the legends were true. And for 2 to show up, this is the worst day possible for you."

Goku immediately caught up and glared at Freeza. "Don't kill him just yet Vegeta, I want to tear him apart for what he did to Krillin."

Vegeta turned his gaze to Kakarot. "Careful now, don't go making an enemy of me. Once we're done with him, it's your turn next."

Goku returned Vegeta's gaze and chuckled. "Fine by me, though let's focus on Freeza for the time being. He needs to suffer after all for everything he's done."

Freeza shook in fear as these saiyans talked so casually right in front of him at his full power. He grit teeth and aimed both his hands at them. "The only ones who will suffer are you!" He fired several beams at the both of them, holding nothing back. Though they dodged all of them. "Damnit, hold still! Or are you aware that you can't take an attack at my full power?"

Vegeta chuckled and tapped his forehead. "Then go ahead Freeza, take your best shot right here." This act of aggravation pushed Freeza over the edge, who fired a beam right at Vegeta's forehead. The prince's head snapped back as if pushed, but when he lowered his head back into place, his forehead was barely damaged. This resulted in a pretty cheeky grin from the saiyan.

Freeza backed up as his attack was completely ineffective against the saiyan prince, realizing if his attack couldn't do much to Vegeta, just what is this other changed saiyan capable of. "Damnit, you think this changes anything?! You may have gotten a significant power up, but I am still the strongest in the entire universe!"

"I don't think so anymore Freeza. I think it's become pretty obvious that this fight's as good as over." said Goku, what little control of himself he had was noticing that Freeza's strength was slowly dropping.

Around that time, Raditz, Gohan and Yamcha were all flying back to the ship. Gohan and Yamcha were capable of going faster, but Raditz was quite exhausted from his confrontation with Freeza as well as giving most of his power to the Spirit Bomb, so the 2 of them kept a steady pace so Raditz doesn't get lost. Raditz couldn't help chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny?" asked Yamcha, genuinely worried that the stress and fear of people dying has made the saiyan go crazy.

"It's nothing. Well, nothing but the fact that all that nonsense that Vegeta's spoke over the years has been true the entire time." said Raditz, the image of the 2 saiyans with their golden hair constantly in her mind. "To think that both the supposed 'greatest of saiyans' and the 'lowest of trash', as he would put it, have both become the warriors of legend. In the face of 2 Super Saiyans, Freeza is absolutely nothing."

"Do you really think that they'll be able to handle Freeza?" asked Gohan, tempted to go back and help his dad, especially after the beating he took before the Spirit Bomb was thrown.

"There's no need to worry about it. Vegeta's got years of pent up aggression towards Freeza and my brother looked like he was about ready to tear Freeza apart. If the Super Saiyan legend is as fearful as Vegeta made it out to be, then everything's going to be fine." Raditz didn't hear any responses from the 2 of them so he figured he successfully reassured them that everything will be alright. He finally saw the ship that his brother and Piccolo came in, landing at the entrance. "Earth woman, are you here?"

Bulma stumbled out of the driver's seat and looked at everyone. "Oh thank god, for a sec I thought Freeza or someone show-" She cut herself off and turned pale as she noticed the corpses of Tien and Nappa, also believing Piccolo to be dead. "N-No way. Tien? A-And Piccolo? T-Then that means that Kami.."

Gohan ran past Bulma, looking for anything to stop Piccolo's bleeding. Yamcha was the one to step up and tell Bulma. "No, Piccolo's not dead, at least not yet. That means that we still have our dragon balls back on Earth. Though I'm not sure how long he's gonna last like this."

Bulma went from her look of dread to a look of excitement. "Then we haven't a moment to lose! When are Goku and Krillin getting here so we can head back to Earth?"

Mentioning Krillin made both Yamcha and Raditz go stiff, looking down in despair. Once Bulma caught on to what they were thinking, she fell to her knees, the life void of her eyes as she realized that Krillin couldn't be brought back a second time by the dragon balls. Raditz grit his teeth and grabbed Yamcha by the shoulder. "Give me whatever energy you have. I'm heading back out there!"

Yamcha went wide-eyed. _He really has gone mad!_ He pushed Raditz's hand off his shoulder. "You're really planning on going back out there?! I know you want to get revenge on Freeza for killing our friends, but even you said that the other 2 can handle it!"

Raditz glared and pushed Yamcha against the wall of the ship. "I'm not going back out there for Freeza, I'm going back out there to find that namekian runt! He might be able to heal Piccolo and ensure that the dragon balls will be safe!"

Yamcha looked a little horrified but new that the saiyan wasn't planning on killing him. He obliged Raditz and gave him all of his energy.

Raditz backed away from the earthling and turned to Bulma. "My scouter, where is it?" Bulma pointed to a small shelf where the scouter was comfortably sitting. Raditz took the scouter and put it on, using it to lock in on the namekian's location. "I'll be back, do not take off until I get back!" He then flew off to go find Dende.

Gohan returned with a bandages, wrapping them around Piccolo's severed arm. He looked up and saw that his uncle was nowhere in sight. "Where'd uncle Raditz go?"

Bulma and Yamcha went to help the halfling bandage up the namekian. "He went to go get Dende. Something about having him heal up Piccolo? I don't know, apparently a lot happened while you guys were gone."

While Raditz was out, he found a good number of space pods along his path. To get back on Freeza even more, he took the time to input the settings to launch every pod he found back to Earth. _There, now he has no chance of getting out of here in case he escapes those 2. Now, for the namekian._ He then flew off to where Freeza's ship was, knowing it was around that area that they told the namekian to wait.

Around this time, Freeza had taken a vicious beating from the Super Saiyan duo. He had managed to protect all of his vitals, but it was growing more difficult to avoid them as time went by. _Damn saiyans. I absolutely refuse to let me see my end here._ He looked down at the planet's surface and grinned. He then saw the saiyans coming at him, using his psychic powers to push them back. "Prepare to die, filthy saiyans!" He created a large orb of energy, chucking it down at the planet's surface. The resulting impact creating a bright light that enveloped the entire planet.

The light soon vanished and to both the saiyans' and Freeza's surprise, the planet wasn't destroyed as the emperor had planned. There was a massive crater in the place of the explosion that the bottom couldn't be seen. Vegeta chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Looks like you didn't have the necessary power to even destroy a planet, let alone us. Or were you just so afraid to die that you held back at the last moment?"

Freeza growled and closed his eyes before smiling. "It would appear that I held back unconsiously. It doesn't matter though as the core of the planet has been completely vaporized. By my estimate, that gives you 5 minutes before this planet is reduced to nothing. You may be the Super Saiyan of legend, but I doubt that little transformation can last in the vacuum of space."

Both the saiyans looked shocked at this dreadful information, but Goku simply laughed. "5 minutes is more than enough time. After all, your power's been dropping the entire fight. I'd be surprised if you can last 2 minutes."

Around this time, King Kai was just observing the fight from his planet. He was quite nervous as to how things are gonna play out now that Namek has a countdown to destruction. He jumped in surprise as he heard a familiar voice in his head as he was caught off guard.

"King Kai, what's the status of everything happening on Namek?"

King Kai shook his head. "Kami? For my sake, don't do that. Well, everything was seemingly going fine for a while. At least, until recently. Both Tien and the saiyan with Vegeta were killed by Freeza, as well as Krillin. Piccolo almost recieved the same fate but is hanging in there. "

Kami looked off the Lookout as he put himself into deep thought. "So Krillin was vanquished has he? Then I'm afraid that I am powerless to help him now. I can bring back both Tien and the saiyan if it is necessary, but those brought back by the dragon balls cannot be brought back twice."

King Kai stiffened as he processed the information given to him. "You mean your dragon balls can revive multiple people at a time? Also, I thought the dragon balls weren't allowed for an entire year after their initial use."

Kami was a little surprised that King Kai wasn't already aware of the first fact fact but didn't feel like questioning it. "Yes, the dragon balls can bring back as many people as necessary as long as they fall in line with the specifications of the wish. As for the dragon balls requiring a year, I do have the power to make them usable immediately, but they'll have an additional year to charge along with the time they initially had."

King Kai looked rather stoic when he heard this information. "I just gotta know something, is the dragon balls able to bring back people from distant planets? Such a Namek?"

"Hmm, I'm not entirely sure. I've never had a reason to try." said Kami, honestly curious as to what the deity was thinking. "What are you planning?"

"Listen, if you can, use the dragon balls to wish back everyone killed by Freeza and his men! There might be hope! The dragon on Namek still had one wish left to grant, so if the creator of those dragon balls are brought back, we can use that wish to save everyone!" shouted King Kai, not really necessary since he's speaking telepathically.

"Hmm, very well. I'll have Mr. Popo gather the dragon balls as quickly as possible. I just hope it won't be too late." said Kami, turning around to go find Mr. Popo.

King Kai went back to watching the fight on Namek. "So do I."

Raditz was freaking out quite a bit as Namek was suddenly collapsing in on itself. "Damnit, what happened?! This isn't just some natural disaster! Don't tell me Freeza is the cause of this!" As he was flying around, his an eruption of steam from the water burst upwards and hit him, sending his scouter off his face. "No, my scouter!" He flew after the scouter and caught it, stuffing it inside his battle armor. "This isn't good. I'll have to find the runt the old fashioned way. He made his way to the ship, keeping an eye out to sense Dende's power.

Around 2 minutes pass before as the fight against Freeza continues. Freeza looked incredibly exhausted as the saiyans barely looked tired at all. Goku then powered down from his Super Saiyan state, surprising both Vegeta and Freeza. "There's no point in fighting anymore. We've already proven that we're better than you. Leave now and hide under a rock, knowing the shame that you've been bested by the thing you hate most. Come on, Vegeta."

As Freeza was just left in shock at the bold words by the saiyan, Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle. "You know what? You're right. This is a far more satisfying fate for him. He should know the pain I've suffered of being treated as inferior. Just know this Freeza, if I ever catch wind of you being in the same area of space as me, I won't hesitate to put you down." He then powered down as well and started flying off, with Goku right behind him.

Freeza grit his teeth as he refused to believe that this was how it was going to end. "No! I refuse, you will die now!" He created a disc of energy very similar to what Krillin was able to make, tossing it right at the saiyans. His shouting was enough to warn the saiyans of his attack as they dodged it.

When Goku turned to face Freeza, his anger grew and took the form of Super Saiyan once more. "You damn bastard! We gave you a chance to live and you threw it away!" He turned his head to Vegeta. "Get out of here, I need to settle things. Your friend can be brought back by the dragon balls but Krillin won't be coming back. I promise, Freeza will pay, just let me be the one to do it."

Vegeta hesitated, looking at Kakarot, then back to Freeza, then back to Kakarot. "Fine, I'll let you have him. But promise me that you won't give him anymore mercy! He dies today, got it?!" He then flew off, flying right for the others, sensing a stray energy in the direction of Freeza's ship but ignoring it.

As Raditz searching around to find the namekian, his eyes caught the attention of a rather incredible sight: a massive green dragon that showed up out of nowhere. "N-No way! Is that the thing that brought me here?! But I thought that-" He was cut off as he started feeling a large abundance of energy around the planet show up at once, as if hundreds of beings has shown up at once. "Namekian, where are you?!"

Dende crawled out a small crevice in the ground, looking at the saiyan. He was also shocked at the sight of Porunga. "P-Porunga?! But that means the Grand Elder is alive! Which means all those people I sense are-" He hopped about in excitement as he could quickly tell that the namekians were alive again. His excitement was brief as he heard a voice inside his head instructing him on what to do with the wish.

Raditz heard no such so at first he thought the child was just talking to himself. It didn't take him long that King Kai was likely involved with this. "Hey, King Kai! What's the meaning of all this?!"

"Geez, you didn't have to yell you know, I have been paying attention." answered King Kai, his head hurting from hearing Raditz screaming at him again so soon. "Listen, we don't want anyone overhearing this, but that young namekian is going to use the namekian dragon's last wish to bring everyone except Freeza and Goku back to Earth. I planned to take Goku as well, but he said he had to bring finish things with Freeza."

Raditz sighed and crossed his arms, a little relieved and stressed at the same time. "Damnit brother, is this really the best time?" His eyes then widened as it just occurred to him. "Wait, does that mean that the earthlings and Nappa are alive again?!"

"Hmm? Well, Tien and Nappa are alive, yes. Krillin wasn't able to come back as the dragon balls aren't able to bring back someone twice." said King Kai, regretting to have to share that news with the saiyan.

Raditz growled and clenched his fist tightly. "Guess it can't be helped. Namekian, get us out of here!"

Dende nodded as he started speaking namekian to the dragon, wishing for everyone on Namek besides Goku and Freeza to Earth. He sensed Freeza flying towards them, but the wish had already been granted and everyone started vanishing from Namek rapidly until it was just Goku and Freeza left.

Raditz was shocked to see the familiar sight of Earth, the area that everyone on Namek showed up in looking very similar to the place that he crashed down when he first arrived. It took him a couple seconds before he remembered why he went to find the namekian in the first place. He grabbed the child and flew off to where Piccolo was.

Piccolo woke up as his Dende healed him up, also restoring his arm without sacrificing his stamina. He looked at Dende and smiled, patting both his head and Gohan's head. He then looked at Raditz. "So, mind telling me what exactly happened?"

As the saiyan explained the whole situation to Piccolo, the Grand Elder explained everything to the rest of the namekians. Vegeta was leaning against a tree and listening to the rest blabber on when he saw Nappa approach him, a small smile forming on his face. "You look worse for wear, don't you think you should change out of that armor?"

"Is that an offer to give me yours?" The two of them laughed comfortably, somehow able to relax more than they ever could.

As all of this was going down, a sharp chill ran down Raditz's spine, turning his head to look at the sky. He wasn't able to feel it from such a drastic distance but he could already tell what that sharp chill was. Namek had just exploded, and Goku hadn't made it off planet.

* * *

 **And that is chapter 19 of the most successful story I've ever written. Now, I'll admit that I could have definitely done that ending better and just might change it up in the future. But I wanted it to be brought to you sooner simply because I was gushing at what I had written for it. I know this is primarily a story regarding Raditz and Nappa being in the main story, but as a Vegeta fan I had to give the prince some shine that Toriyama never gave him, so I chose to give him both some character development as well as an early access pass to Super Saiyan. Also, while the information I wrote about the dragon balls requiring a longer charge, but there have been 2 occasions in the canon in which the dragon balls have been used faster than the year long wait and there isn't any knowledge to contradict what I had written. Anyway, feel free to leave a review if you liked this chapter, save for the cruddy ending that I will likely change sometime int the future. Anyway, this sorta concludes the Namek saga, with a filler chapter next time to get some of the story progression out of the way. And I plan to bring an old character back at the end of next chapter. For those of you watchers of MasakoX, you know who and why. For those of you who don't watch him, you're likely in for a treat. That's it for this week, tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	20. Peace and Wishes

Gohan looked up to his uncle, unsure why he was looking so worried. "Uncle Raditz? Why are you just looking at the sky? Is someone coming?"

Raditz grit his teeth and lowered his head. "King Kai! I know you're there, so I need you to tell me. What happened to Namek?!"

Everyone looked at Raditz, unsure what exactly he was going on about. The only one who had an idea of what the saiyan was talking about was Vegeta, who was present to learn that Namek's destruction was imminent.

After a few moments of silence, Raditz finally got a response from the deity. "Yeah.. I'm here, not like I'm going anywhere. But Namek.. It's no longer there. Freeza caused Namek to self-destruct.

Raditz felt sweat starting to form on his body as he was getting a very bad idea on where this was going. "A-And what of my brother? Damnit, what happened to Kakarot?!"

Everyone went silent, looking just as worried as Raditz. Yamcha turned to the saiyans, Vegeta specifically. "Hey, what's he talking about? Why is he so worried about Goku? He should be alright, right?"

Vegeta growled and lowered his head. _This doesn't make any sense. How would Raditz know about the destruction of Namek? I know it was falling apart but this timing isn't natural._ "Freeza destroyed the core of Namek. He said himself that there were only 5 minutes before the planet explodes after that. If I had to guess, that time is most definitely up."

Yamcha started looking a little pale, turning back to Raditz for confirmation on what was going on, as was everyone else. "I'm sorry, Freeza pulled a fast one on Goku and managed to stall out a little time. Goku defeated Freeza, but didn't have enough time to get to his ship. He tried Freeza's ship but it was too damaged to fly. There was no time left before the planet exploded. I'm sorry."

Raditz stiffened as he was given the news, dropping to his knees as his brother was once again dead. Not only that, but any attempt to make real amends with his brother have slipped through his grasp yet again. "No! Kakarot, you weren't supposed to die again! This can't be happening!"

Despite getting the news, Bulma was completely calm about this. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. Apparently the namekian dragon balls are capable of bringing back a person more than once, so reviving both Krillin and Goku is no problem."

King Kai then focused his telepathy to Bulma. "I'm afraid it isn't that simple. They may be brought back from the dead, but they'd only be brought back to where they died. Considering the planet where they died is no longer, they'd only be welcomed by the cold vacuum of space, and meet their end again. And unfortunately I can't move them from where they died as Namek isn't a part of space that isn't in my jurisdiction."

Bulma turned paled and jittery as she was given the information. She got a similar reaction from the others when she passed on the information. The only ones with different reactions were the saiyans. Raditz simply punched a crater into the ground in frustration, Nappa just stared at the ground. Vegeta on the other hand looked annoyed. "Aren't you overlooking a small detail? You're talking about the power of a wish granting dragon. Just have it move their souls back here to Earth before wishing them back. I thought you'd be smart enough to think of that yourselves."

Raditz turned to look at Vegeta. The saiyan stood up and wiped his face, hiding the fact that he was on the verge of tears from his former superior. He then walked over to the saiyan prince and held his hand out. "Thanks for the suggestion, Vegeta."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes and swatted Raditz's hand away. "Don't get the wrong idea. I simply want Kakarot alive again for my own reasons. As a Super Saiyan, I may be the mightiest in the universe now, but I won't feel great about it till I beat Kakarot while he is a Super Saiyan as well."

Raditz looked a little shocked and chuckled as he turned around and started walking away. _Now that's an interesting development. He said beat rather than kill. Perhaps the outburst of emotion from losing Nappa softened his heart a little._ "Hey, Earth woman, got a minute?"

Bulma turned her head to look at Raditz, looking rather annoyed. "I have a name you know. Would be good to learn it or else you'll look like a weirdo in public. Anyway, what is it?"

"I was just wondering if you had any space for my 2 compatriots over there." He nudged his head in the direction of the 2 saiyans.

Bulma looked at the 2 saiyans and then back at the saiyan before her. "Well, I've already decided to house the namekians until they can use their dragon balls to find a new home, so I suppose I can take in 2 more. But what about you?"

Raditz chuckled and looked up to the sky. "Well, I want to learn as much of what my brother did before he gets back so I suppose I'll find whoever taught him, so long as they're still alive. Also, I think I have a proper payment to cover those 2 staying there, you just have to wait a few days."

Bulma tilted her head as she had no idea what he was on about, but didn't see any real harm in it. "Alright, if you want to learn from the same person Goku did, Master Roshi would be the best place to start. Though I'll warn you, he isn't an easy one to learn from."

Raditz nodded to Bulma and started walking away, looking around through the crowd of namekians, particularly the children. He picked out Dende due to his higher power level compared to the other children. "Hey, runt. I got a huge favor to ask you."

Dende turned his head to the saiyan, a little nervous to why the powerful saiyan was talking to him of all people. "F-Favor? What kind of favor?"

"Well, you've got a lot of time before your dragon balls are ready for use, then you'll be back to a life of isolation with your people, so I was hoping you'd stick with me till I perfect this technique that I've been having trouble with."

Dende looked at the new Grand Elder, Muri, to make that decision. Muri thought for about 20 seconds before coming to the decision. "Very well. This will serve as good practice for him to practice his newfound power given to him by the previous Grand Elder. Take good care of him."

Raditz smiled towards the namekian. He then grabbed the collar of Dende's robe and placed the namekian child on his back. "Hang on tight, I know a great spot to train." And with that, the 2 of them flew off without another word. Gohan was tempted to follow after them but knew he'd be in trouble if he ran off from his mother.

After about an hour of flying, the both of them land atop Kami's Lookout. Neither the elderly namekian nor Mr. Popo were currently present but Raditz could tell they were around. Dende simply looked off the edge of the lookout and was shocked at how high they were, unable to really see anything down below. "W-What is this place?"

"It's the dwelling place of Earth's guardian, Kami. He's a namekian, just like you. This is my first time here, but I've met Kami before so I know what his energy is like." said Raditz, inhaling before shouting. "Hey, Kami! I got someone I'd like ya to meet!"

Around a minute later, Kami walked outside from his little hut, holding his free hand to his head. "You know I could hear you perfectly from where you were, didn't you? There was no need for all that unnecessary shouting."

Raditz chuckles. "I know, but I just wanted to get you out here faster. Kami, this is Dende, a namekian who'll be staying here on Earth till his people can use their dragon balls again."

Both of the namekians stared at each other in complete silence. It was only until Mr. Popo came out with some hot tea that the silence was broken. "Oh my, I knew we had guests but I never could have imagined this."

Kami gave a smile to the younger namekian and walked forward, kneeling down to be face to face with Dende. "It's nice to meet you Dende, I take it you're from the Dragon Clan as well?"

Dende nodded, feeling calmer to be talking to another namekian who didn't seem so scary. "Yes sir. I don't mean to sound weird, but your energy seems oddly similar to the other namekian from here."

"That's because they are one and the same." said Mr. Popo, not giving a moment's hesitation. "The namekian you met, Piccolo, is the offspring to the original Piccolo, who was once a single namekian comprised of both Kami and Piccolo."

Raditz gave Mr. Popo a pretty cold stare for interrupting a rather interesting conversation between namekians of different ages and worlds. "Yeah, that's the truth. I brought you here so you could maybe learn something from Kami."

Kami chuckled and straightened up. "That's quite an interesting proposal. I've never taught another namekian, perhaps this could be fun." He then looked up from Dende to the saiyan. "And what do you want out of this?"

Raditz held up his right arm. "I want to perfect a technique that I've been practicing for over a month. I was hoping that I could use it in an area with lighter gravity back on Namek but that didn't help one bit. I feel like I could have done more against Freeza if I could use it."

Dende turned around to look at the saiyan. "You mean the technique that hurt your arm badly when you tried to use it?"

Raditz nodded in response. "That's the one. Happens every time I use it. If I'm gonna break my arm every time I use it, I at least wanna use it right. Think you could help me out with that?"

Kami narrowed his eyes. "Hmm, I find it a bit suspicious, but I see no reason not to. I just hope your technique doesn't threaten to destroy the whole lookout, or the whole planet."

Raditz picked up one of the cups of tea. "Don't worry, if I get to the point I can use it, I'll just use it on an asteroid or something." He takes a sip of the tea and widens his eyes, chucking the cup on the ground and screams. "God damnit! That's too hot!"

"I know that must have been hot, but that's no reason to use my name in vane." said Kami, getting a chuckle from both Mr. Popo. Dende was chuckling too, but mostly because of Raditz's freak out.

After that moment, 4 months of training had gone by in the blink of an eye. It took around 2 months to finally get the technique good enough to be used, but hasn't used it since because he hasn't had anyone to properly use it on. The saiyan spent the last 2 months training with Master Roshi, who was reluctant to train him at first. Dende learned everything that Kami could teach him quite quickly. Vegeta and Nappa had gotten quite used to life on Earth, spending all of their free time training. Tien had reunited with Chiaotzu after returning from Namek, telling him about everything that happen. The 2 of them vanished a week after the events on Namek and haven't been heard from since. Yamcha spent around a month with Bulma but the both of them drifted apart afterwards, leaving the Earthling to travel around and train all on his own. Gohan returned to his studies afterward and hasn't gotten a chance to train since. Piccolo secluded himself in the wastelands and trained alone as always. Bulma spent a good amount of time working on the numerous spacepods that Raditz had given her after they had landed. The namekians adjusted to life well in the time they had.

After 130 after the results on Namek, everyone gathered together at Capsule Corp. as the namekian dragon balls were ready to be used once again. Upon summoning Porunga, the sky turned black and there was quite a panic in West City upon seeing the massive dragon, thought the panic died down quick when everyone realized that the dragon originated in Capsule Corp., thinking it was some new invention.

"Huh, so this is the namekian's Shenron. He's a lot bigger then ours." said Bulma, pretty impressed as this was her first time seeing it.

"We've been quite happy for your hospitality for our people, so feel free to use all 3 wishes for yourselves. We can wait a while longer." said Muri.

Nappa and Vegeta were just leaning against one of the buildings, watching from a distance away from everyone else. "How's about it, Vegeta? Wanna nab some immortality? As the strongest in the universe, they wouldn't exactly be able to stop ya." asked Nappa.

Vegeta turned his head in disinterest. "No thanks. I mostly wanted immortality to overpower Freeza, but I've already achieved that dream. Besides, that dragon only responds to the namekian language, remember?"

"Guess you're right. When you're the strongest in the universe, who needs immortality?" said Nappa, silently making a crack at Freeza, who wanted immortality for himself.

"Alright, the first wish is pretty obvious." said Bulma, making sure Dende was ready to translate what she said so that the dragon would grant their wishes. "Firstly, bring the souls of Krillin and Goku to this very spot!"

Porunga's eyes glew as he granted the wish, though shifted his mouth with confusion as part of the wish couldn't be granted. "I have retrieved the soul of the one named Krillin and brought him forth to this spot. But I was not able to bring forth the one called Goku."

Everyone stiffened up a bit as the dragon proclaimed unable to grant that part of the wish. "W-Why not?" asked Gohan, a bit scared to hear what the dragon might say. Dende translated the question to Porunga.

"I am not able to retrieve the souls of someone still alive." answered Porunga.

Everything went silent upon hearing that revelation before bursting out into shouts of cheering, roars erupting from Capsule Corp. which disturbed a few of the people walking by. Ever the saiyans on the sidelines smiled upon hearing this.

"Well then, if he's alive then we can rest easy and wait till our third wish to bring him back. Hey Dende, have that dragon bring back Krillin." demanded Raditz, crossing his arms and leaning back against the building closest to him, his hair having grown back in the months he was training.

Dende nodded and chanted to the dragon to bring back Krillin. Porunga's eyes glew again as he fulfilled the wish, bringing Krillin back and in one piece. "As an extra gift, I have restored his body and clothing free of charge."

Bulma chuckled and winked at the dragon. "For someone so scary looking, you sure are sweet. Now for the grand finale, bring Goku back to Earth!" Dende chanted the words to the dragon with just as much enthusiasm.

Porunga's eyes glew but his mouth shifted once more. "I'm afraid I cannot will someone here if they choose not to. He says he will return on his own."

Everyone looked at each other, mumbling reasons why Goku would refuse to return to Earth at the first chance that he got. Roshi blamed Chi-Chi for being so scary but immediately played it off once the woman in question glared at him. Bulma jokingly thought in her head that it might have been so Goku could think of the right way to talk to his brother once they reunite but was taking so long because of how dull Goku could be.

"Well, if my brother says that he doesn't wanna come back straight away, who are we to say no? Since we have no more need for the dragon, you namekians are free to use the last wish." said Raditz, turning to Dende and smiling.

The namekians all gave heartful goodbyes to everyone. Dende asked Raditz if he could pass along a thank you to Kami when he gets the chance. After that, Dende made spoke the final wish in namekian to Porunga. In the blink of an eye, all of the namekians and Porunga vanished, causing the sky to return from pitch black to normal blue of the afternoon.

Everyone then went on their seperate ways once more. Bulma returned to working with the alien technology, still housing the 2 saiyans who refused to do anything but train all day. Chi-Chi and Gohan returned home to continue with the halfling's education. Piccolo returned to his solitude in the wastelands to continue his training. Tien and Chiaotzu once more disappeared without a trace. Yamcha eventually joined a baseball team and has become rather popular in the next few months.

During that time, Raditz in the middle of his training on Master Roshi's island, trying to perform the Kamehameha. He's been pretty good at learning the techniques of the other Z-Warriors, though has witnessed them firsthand. Master Roshi has yet to actually perform the technique to Raditz yet and has only shown him the poses. Raditz has been spending around a week trying to do it but hasn't made any real ground. "Come on old man, just show me how to do it! I don't know when my brother will get back and I wanna be able to surprise him."

Roshi simply sat in his beach chair, reading a dirty magazine while the saiyan was training. "I already told you a thousand times, you won't get the answer out of me. You're already powerful enough to outdo any of the training I could give you, but I'm not just gonna teach you all the techniques I know. I'll show you when you get the general idea of it."

Raditz groaned as he continued to try and perform the technique at the ocean, though just keeps shooting energy blasts at the minimal energy he could to keep from any unnecessary damage. His scouter suddenly went off right as he fired one of his blasts, changing the direction of the blast in the direction of the incoming person. He panicked as he read the very low power level of the energy. "Damnit! Kaio-Ken times 4!" He amplified his power with the technique and flew to the incoming target, accidentally crashing into a flying car and crunching the front of it up. Luckily he made it in time to catch his own blast and break it apart. He sighed and looked into the car, seeing a slender woman with large blue hair just staring at him. "Are you okay?"

The woman nodded as she just stared at the bulky man just flying in the middle of the air holding her car up with one hand. The engine had been totaled in the crash so it was because of the saiyan holding it up that it wasn't sinking into the ocean. "Thank you very much, could you drop me off at Master Roshi's place?"

Raditz nodded as he grabbed onto the car with his other hand and flew to the island, placing the car on the beach. Master Roshi looked up from his chair and jumped in surprise as he saw the busted up car and familiar face inside. "L-Launch?! What are you doing here?! I thought you left to be with Tien?!"

Launch got out of her car and sighed. "Tien said he was too busy training to be with me, too much of a burden." She then put on a smile. "But I'm alright now."

Roshi got behind Launch and made grabby hands as he prepared to touch her while she's not in her violent persona. "A-And how long do you plan to stay for?" Roshi was stopped from touching her after taking a blow to the head from Raditz, submerging the old man's head into the sand.

"Oh, I'm not staying. I've found a place to stay for a little while. I just came by to get some of my stu-" She was cutoff as a salty ocean breeze blew past her face, causing her nose to scrunch up. She inhaled deeply and let out a pretty harsh sneeze, her hair changing from blue to yellow in an instant.

Raditz went pretty wide-eyed as he witnessed this shift. At first he thought the woman before him was a saiyan and underwent the same transformation that his brother and Vegeta had, but wrote the thought off as he sensed no change in power. "You okay?"

Launch turned around and looked at the large saiyan. She went into a panic and pulled out a sub-machine gun from virtually nowhere, firing at the saiyan. "Who the heck are you?!"

Raditz narrowed his eyes and caught each individual bullet. He was reminded of the time he came to this planet and grabbed the bullet of the first earthling who saw him. _I wonder if that earthling's okay. I didn't check to see if he was dead._ He held out his hand that was full of bullets. "The name's Raditz, and I think these belong to you."

Launch looked pretty freaked out as this man was handing back the bullets she's just shot. She was used to her bullets not doing much to people as they weren't meant to, but wasn't expecting someone to pull that off. She then caught sight of Raditz's tail and went wide-eyed. "Hey, you've got a tail, just like Goku. Spill it, what's your relation to him?"

Raditz chuckled as he walked to the busted car, dropping the bullets into the passenger seat, walking on Master Roshi's back on his walk back to the woman bold enough to shoot at him. "My relation is as close as it could possibly be, seeing that we're brothers."

Launch lowered her gun and looked pretty surprised. "I didn't know that little punk had a brother, let alone a big guy like you." She then turned to her car. "Ah! What the hell happened to my car?!"

Raditz tilted his head as this woman was only becoming more intriguing to him. _So not only does her hair and attitude changes, but she doesn't fully remember things the other doesn't? Earthlings are more interesting than I thought._ "That was my bad. I was in the middle of training and accidentally shot at ya. I managed to intercept the blast and keep ya from blowing up, but did that to your vehicle."

Master Roshi finally got his head out of the ground, now trying to get sand out of his beard. "I do apologize for this Launch, I should have been keeping a better eye on him." He ended up getting a glare from the saiyan and started sweating. "Do you need me to give you a ride back to the mainland? I'd be more than happy to."

Raditz stood in the way of Master Roshi before speaking again. "No, let me do it. I can carry you and your car to Capsule Corp. I'm sure Bulma could fix it up no problem."

Launch took a moment to think about it, wondering if she should accept this offer from the person she just met. She then put into account that he's the brother of the pure-hearted Goku, so this stranger should be trustworthy. Besides, it's a lot better than riding with Roshi. "Sure, but there's no need to go that far, I know a person not far from the shoreline who could fix it up."

Raditz nodded and hit Roshi again as the old man tried to grab at Launch once more. He waited patiently as the women went inside the little shack and came out a few minutes later, having put all of her stuff into a capsule for easy storage. She slid into her car and waited for the saiyan to help her out. The saiyan slid behind the car and grabbed it. "You might want to brace yourself, this is gonna be pretty fast. Kaio-Ken times 4!" His power amplified and burst across the ocean at insane speeds with very little time to prepare, leaving Launch screaming in fear.

It took a little over a minute for them to reach the shore. Launch's hair was sticking out backwards in a straight line from the heavy winds, her face momentarily frozen in fear. Once she shook it off, she looked at the saiyan, who ended up giving her a smile. "Maybe a little warning next time! I could have died you know!"

Raditz laughed and opened the door, not wanting to mention the new dents he made in the car after amplifying his power. "My bad, but it looks like you're still alive at least. Man, you must have a lot of faith in your friend if you believe he can fix this up. Was nice meeting ya." He turned to face the ocean and prepared to fly off.

"Wait!" shouted Launch, making the saiyan turn his head to look at the woman. "Even if my friend can fix this ol' thing, I'll still need a ride every once in a while. You should give me your number so I can call ya when I need a ride. Who knows, maybe I'll call ya up for a drink."

Raditz was a bit surprised by the request of the woman. "Ah, sorry. I don't really have an Earth phone and I'm not always at the old man's place so that isn't gonna help. Oh!" He reached into a small pocket compartment in his lower armor and pulled out a spare scouter. "You should take this. I have this thing on my head almost all the time so if you talk into this thing, I should answer." He hands her the spare scouter and smiles.

Launch looked at it, then at Raditz, then tries to slip the device on. It takes her a moment but she manages to get the alien device on it. "Alright, so I just talk into this thing? Seems simple enough. Thanks for helping me out. I'll message ya soon when I feel like calling ya out for drinks."

Raditz smiled and turned back to the ocean, performing the Kaio-Ken times 4 again as he blast off back to Master Roshi's island. He'd never met a woman with quite as much ferocity as her, or as bold to attack him on sight. His eyes went wide as a sudden realization just came to him. _Did.. Was that the earthlings' way of flirting?_

* * *

 **And yet another chapter done. In comparison to the way I ended last chapter, I am much more satisfied with the results of this one. I know there's a lot of potential content I could have written for Raditz's training but I'm holding out on letting you see the results of that new attack until the time is right to unveil it. I had fun building up this new technique for you guys and there's still plenty more fun to be had with it. Now, onto the meat of the chapter that I know some of you might get on me. I know I wasn't the one to originally think up pairing Raditz with Launch, that courtesy goes to the Youtuber MasakoX. But the reason I use it is because it's too good to not use. Besides, Masako may have built the pairing, but I'm filling in the space he left out, the development in their relationship. I hope you guys don't get upset at me for pulling this, I just liked it too much to not do it. Next chapter we're diving right back into the heat of things as you-know-who is showing up, so stay tuned for that. That's all from me. Leave a review telling me what you thought of this chapter and tune in next week for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**

 **Oh, and one last thing. We finally hit the ultimate milestone for any Dragon Ball Z fanfic. The view count is OVER 9000!**


	21. A shocking Discovery A new saiyan

Raditz was sitting under a waterfall in the middle of the mountains, not a far flight away from Gohan and Chi-Chi. Goku's wife had been very wary of the saiyan but in the year he'd been around, she'd grown to tolerate him and fed him whenever he came over to visit. Sadly, despite the numerous times he's asked, she's absolutely refused to let Gohan train with his uncle. Therefor, Raditz has occasionally trained with Piccolo in the past year and meditated to better control his energy. Every chance he'd get, he's been unleashing the Kaio-Ken times 4 to help his body better withstand to pressure of the power up. He was in the middle of training his body to the pressure when his concentration broke, undoing the power up. He looked to the sky and shook as he recognized that power from anywhere. He jumped out of water onto the shore, grabbing his armor and slipping it on, slipping on his scouter and looking to see just how far that power was. Thankfully, Bulma had tuned it up quite a bit, no longer exploding when it read a power too high for it accurately read. "Damnit, I thought Freeza would have been done for! Brother, what did you do?!" The saiyan then flew off in the direction that Freeza and another huge power were going. During his chase, he sensed Gohan not far behind him. "Gohan? What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm going to see what's going on. If Freeza's here, then there's no point trying to hide." said Gohan, noticing a power closing in behind them. "Krillin, did you feel that energy too?"

The bald earthling nodded as he slid beside Gohan during their fight. "Yeah, kinda hard to miss the energy of the guy that killed ya. Although I don't recognize that other huge power. Raditz, you got any ideas?"

"I may have an idea, but it would be best to get confirmation from Nappa and Vegeta. Vegeta worked closest to Freeza while we were under his rule and Nappa's been around longer than either of us, he might know something we don't." said the saiyan. He noticed everyone else had already shown up and masked their power levels. Surprising to him, Bulma was there too. Chaotzu was also there, but he shouldn't be surprised about that considering the odd earthling was always with Tien. There was also a floating cat next to Yamcha that he'd never quite figured out. "Yo, Nappa! Vegeta!"

Both the saiyans turned their heads to look at their fellow saiyan. Nappa's beard had grown quite a bit since the last time Raditz had seen him, though Vegeta looked the same as always. "Well look who it is. Here I thought you'd left the planet in search of your brother." said Nappa, any animosity towards Raditz being long gone.

Vegeta scoffed and turned his head, still holding a bit of a grudge towards Raditz. He didn't act on it since there was no point challenging the saiyan due to him being a Super Saiyan and Raditz not being one. "What do you want?"

"Come on, don't be like that. I was just gonna ask you 2 if you can confirm my suspicions. Is that, or is that not, King Cold on the ship?" asked Raditz, spending no time beating around the bush.

Both the saiyans elite looked at each other and grit their teeth as they confirmed Raditz's suspicions without even needing to say a word. Everyone else looked among themselves, Bulma being the one to step up and ask the question. "Hey uh.. Who's King Cold?"

"King Cold is Freeza's father. He's roughly around the same power level as Freeza, thus why Vegeta hasn't already tried to take Freeza on for a rematch." said Nappa, grunting as he felt so useless in this situation. "Not to mention Freeza feels even more powerful than last time."

Everyone started to look pale as things were starting to look a little bleak for their chances. Raditz broke the eerie silence with the sound of his laughter. "We should be able to hold them off just fine. I've got a handle on my new technique that I'm sure Freeza will be 'dying' to see."

Vegeta lifted an eyebrow, curious to what exactly his former underling has under his metaphorical sleeve. After all, he's sense the saiyan's power jump constantly over the past year, sometimes making training distracting. "Oh really? Then by all means, make the first move. I'll jump in right afterwards if it actually succeeds to do anything but piss them off."

Raditz groaned as Vegeta didn't hold any faith in him whatsoever. "Geez, fine. Let's get closer to them on foot so we can catch them by surprise." Just as he was about to start moving closer to the ship, a chill ran down his spine as he felt several energies, likely Freeza's soldiers, instantly vanish. "What the hell is going on over there?!" He then started sprinting ahead before anyone had the chance to take a step forward.

Everyone else followed behind as they were also curious to who exactly was responsible for the death of Freeza's men. Right before everyone made it to the peak of the mountain that was blocking their view, everyone froze in place as they felt a massive jump in power from the one likely responsible for the death of Freeza's men. The energy was all too familiar to Vegeta as it was undoubtedly the energy of a Super Saiyan. "Kakarot?! He's already on Earth?!"

Raditz shook his head as he continued to run up the hill to get a better look at everything, looking wide-eyed as he saw where that immense power was coming from. "No, that's definitely not my brother, though that power is definitely a Super Saiyan."

Everyone made their way to the top of the hill and proceeded to watch a sight that completely shocked every one of them. Not only did this unknown Super Saiyan slice Freeza to pieces with a sword and blast him into oblivion, he also killed King Cold with severe ease. Raditz noticed that the Super Saiyan fired an energy blast at Freeza's ship and knew he wasn't about to let a good opportunity like this slip past him.

"Kaio-Ken times 10!" He amplified his power and dashed forth to intercept the blast approaching Freeza's ship, using both his hands to stop it and launch it into the sky. "Damn, so that's what it's like to take a hit from a Super Saiyan, huh?"

The unknown saiyan looked at Raditz and narrowed his eyes. "Looks like I missed one." He gripped onto his sword with both hands and rushed at Raditz at full speed.

Raditz just barely dodged out of the way in time, and even then some of his hair was cut off. "This isn't gonna cut it then, is it? Kaio-Ken times 20!" He amplified his power even more and fired a Double Sunday attack at the Super Saiyan. "I don't know who you are, but I'd rather you not destroy something I plan to take!"

The saiyan deflected the attack with absolute ease, then stared at Raditz with a curious look. "You're not one of Freeza's men? But you're dressed just like them, although the colors are a bit odd."

Raditz chuckled. "Hey, they're the ones insulting my look. Vegeta and Nappa would probably say the same." He stopped using the Kaio-Ken as it wasn't necessary anymore now that he'd gotten this stranger to talk.

The saiyan looked wide-eyed as this person he'd just met had mentioned Vegeta. He lowered himself to be eye level with Raditz and undid his Super Saiyan transformation, showing that instead of having black hair, it was more a lavender color. "You know Vegeta? I'm so sorry, I didn't realize."

Raditz was still trying to figure out why someone who was obviously a saiyan would have such an odd hair color. Nevertheless, he continued on with the conversation. "Don't worry about it. Not the first time someone's tried to kill me upon meeting me. I'm Raditz. And you are?"

The saiyan looked down at the ground a little nervously. "Sorry, I can't tell you that. I can tell you that I'll be headed to where Goku is going to land in roughly 3 hours from now."

That certainly caught Raditz's attention and was tempted to ask more about that, though something told him that this stranger wasn't gonna spill any details. "Sure, take my friends with ya. I need to take this thing somewhere safe." He turned his head to look at everyone else just flying in the air, looking at the 2 of them. "Hey, Nappa! Come give me a hand with this!"

Nappa looked pretty surprised to be the one called out. He looked to Vegeta for approval, who simply gave him a nod. The saiyan brute flew down. "What's the deal? This guy on our side or what?"

"Yeah, he's fine. Won't tell us his name but is gonna show everyone where my brother is gonna land." He then turned and gently punched the leg of the large ship, making a loud clang noise. "Meanwhile, I want you to help me scavenge through this and see what we can salvage from it."

Nappa grinned as he flew up top to the opening in the ship. "Disrespecting Freeza by taking his stuff? You can definitely count me in." He then hopped inside without waiting for Raditz.

Raditz chuckled. "You can definitely tell he's got a grudge from dying." He then turned to look at the saiyan that refused to say his name. "Alright, go and show them where to go. We'll catch up soon. Fair warning, be careful around Vegeta. You go Super Saiyan in front of him, he's gonna challenge you to a Super Saiyan brawl."

Trunks looked surprised to hear that. "He's a Super Saiyan? That doesn't sound right. Anyway, thanks for the warning. Remember, 3 hours." He then flew into the air and started to lead everyone to wherever Goku was gonna land.

Raditz scratched the back of his head as he tried to make sense of that young saiyan. Regardless, he went inside the ship and started looking around, hoping that Freeza was dumb enough to leave stuff for them to take. He found some of the newer models of healing pods and chuckled. "These'll definitely come in handy. Nappa! Did you find anything?!"

Nappa walked out from around the corner, holding a box full of scouters and armor. "Yeah, definitely a lot of good stuff to take back with us. Let's get out of here and head back to the others."

"You think we're stopping there? I'm taking this entire ship and everything in it. Not like Freeza will be using it." said Raditz as he started making his way to the control room, Nappa following close behind.

"This is new for you. I remember you sent those pods from Namek here as well. Did something happen to make you do that?" Nappa almost dropped the box as he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and nearly tripped.

Raditz tried to hold back a laugh as his saiyan companion nearly fell over. "Earth is a pretty unique place but the technology is a bit lacking. I may not be a brilliant scientist, but that woman you and Vegeta have been staying with certainly is. May as well help her out in exchange for some luxuries." said Raditz, opening the door to the control panel and taking a minute to figure things out.

The rest of the ride was pretty silent. Mainly because it didn't last long. After all, they were using a spaceship to fly to the mountains where Goku's home is. Raditz had been sleeping in a clearing he'd made himself since he didn't want to be a big bother to Chi-Chi. Luckily it was big enough to store the spaceship. Once it landed, the saiyans left everything there and flew off to where everyone else was. It was hard to locate them since none of them had their power levels up, though it wasn't hard to find them thanks to Raditz's handy scouter. When they arrived, everyone was just sitting around and drinking various drinks around a small fridge.

"Ah, uncle Raditz!" said Gohan, running up to Raditz and hugging the large saiyan. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry about that. Needed to take that ship back home and fly all the way back here. I could have gotten here a lot sooner but Nappa didn't have a scouter so I had to fly at normal speeds."

"Hey! I could have gotten here just fine by myself!" shouted Nappa, not wanting to look badly in front of everyone.

The unnamed saiyan simply watched over everyone in silence, trying to make sense of everything. _Uncle Raditz? I don't recall him ever mentioning an uncle to me. I don't remember hearing about him or this Nappa guy. Did mom and Gohan think it best for me not to know about them?_

Everything from that point on was relatively quiet from that point on. Only around 2 hours later did Raditz stand up to confront the unnamed saiyan. "Hmm? Something I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I want to see how I scale to a Super Saiyan. I'd ask Vegeta, but he'd never let me hear the end of it if I lost to him." said Raditz.

The saiyan looked a bit stunned by the request but didn't see any harm in it, seeing how he'd already made a mistake and attacked Raditz as a Super Saiyan. "Alright, but I can't guarantee your safety." He stoood up and transformed into a Super Saiyan without hesitation, shocking everyone by the immense power in such close range.

Raditz grinned as he knelt down. "No need to worry about me. I've been working quite vigorously this past year. I can maximize my power for roughly 5 minutes before my body gives out." He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes before tightening all his muscles. "Kaio-Ken times 30!" His power jumped up dramatically and launched himself at the Super Saiyan without warning.

The boy looked shocked at the increase in power by this warrior, disappearing in a burst of speed to avoid getting anyone else involved in the fight, reappearing roughly 100 feet. Raditz was able to keep up with the Super Saiyan and chased after him. Bulma, Chaotzu and Puar were all shocked at the 2 fighters suddenly disappearing, unable to keep track of their movements. Everyone else was able to see the fight just fine without trouble.

Raditz started charging up energy in his hands as he throws a flurry of punches at the boy, keeping the Super Saiyan from fighting back as he charged up his attack. Once his attack was fully charged up, he brought his hands together in a familiar position, the pinkish energy around his hands starting to swirl around a ball of blue energy forming between his hands. "Shining Kamehameha!" He fired the beam, a spiraling beam of blue and pink energy headed right for the saiyan boy.

Seeing as the boy didn't have enough time to prepare one of his stronger attacks, presses both hands together above his head and moves them in front of him. "Masenko!" He fired a large blast of energy that collided with Raditz's combination attack and stopping both their attacks in their tracks.

Both Gohan and Piccolo looked surprised that this stranger that they'd never met before was able to use an attack that only they knew how to do.

Raditz didn't hesitate for a second, knowing full well that he was on a time limit with this power and didn't want to waste a second of it. He fired two beams from his hands into the sky, throwing them downwards to break the beams apart into a shower of energy blasts, leaving the Super Saiyan not many options to deal with them.

The boy looked at the blast and grunted. He pulled out his sword and managed to slash through every one of the blasts that came his way, leaving only the ground to be damaged from the attack. He was too focused making sure everyone else was okay to respond fast enough to block a close range blast from Raditz from behind. The blast didn't hurt that much but for some reason his body wouldn't move.

"How do you like my new trick? It's not a permanent solution but being able to cause temporary paralysis is sure to help me out. Just like this." He started to prepare yet another Shining Kamehameha to fire at the boy at close range.

The boy grit his teeth and screamed loudly, forcing out more of his power to break through the paralysis. He then brought his hands together, aiming them at Raditz. "Burning attack!" He fired a very large blast of energy at Raditz.

Raditz widened his eyes and fired his beam at the incoming attack before he was fully ready. The resulting explosion pushed the saiyan back quite a distance as he had to catch himself, looking at the Super Saiyan who was completely unfazed. "I gotta admit, I never expected you to be this powerful. Ever 30 times my base power isn't enough. But if you're this much stronger than me, then I see no reason to hold it back." His red aura started to shift and collect around his arm, the result causing Raditz to be in immense pain. "Try not to die from this!" The energy fully collected into his hand and he was about to do something with that power when something large zoomed right past him, breaking his concentration and dispersing the energy that was building up. He looked to see what exactly it was and widened his eyes as he saw the ship that his brother had brought to Namek. "N-No way!"

Everyone else turned to look at the ship that had crashed down very close from where they were, nobody having noticed it as they were all busy watching the fight. Everyone ran over to the crater that the large ship had created when it crash landed. "There's no mistaking that energy. That's my dad!" shouted Gohan, runing closer to the ship as the door was starting to open.

The boy undid his Super Saiyan transformation and went to join everyone around the crater, looking at the ship and seeing the Capsule Corp. logo on in, putting his hand to his head as something wasn't right. _Wasn't it a small pod that Goku came in? Also, wasn't it supposed to be 3 hours when he was supposed to arrive? There's supposed to be an hour left, right? Did mom screw up when she was telling me all this?_

Goku stepped out of the ship and looked at everyone, more confused than happy. "How did you guys know that I was going to land here?"

Bulma patted the saiyan boy on the back. "It was this guy right here. He knew exactly where you were going to land and sure enough he was right."

Goku tilted his head as he looked at the boy, seeing something familiar about him but never actually seeing the boy before. "Weird, I've never seen him before. Though I guess it's fine right. By the way Vegeta, great job taking out Freeza. I could feel your Super Saiyan energy all the way out in space."

"Actually." said Piccolo, not wanting Vegeta to try and take any credit that he doesn't deserve. "It was the boy right here that took out Freeza. And oddly enough, he did it as a Super Saiyan, very much like you and Vegeta."

Goku was a bit surprised to learn this and looked rather excited. "A Super Saiyan huh? Well that's certainly a surprise. No wonder he was able to deal with Freeza so easily."

The boy then spoke up for the first time since Goku's arrival. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to you in private." Everyone looked a bit confused as this mysterious boy wanted to speak to Goku in private but didn't act up on it, letting the 2 of them walk a good distance out of earshot from them.

Everyone watched as quite a few things happened in the time they were together. Both of them had gone Super Saiyan, did a quick spar, then powered down. After that it was mostly talking that nobody was able to hear other than Piccolo, who kept quiet about the whole thing. Shortly after, the boy flew away and Goku came back to relay all the information to everyone else, though it was Piccolo who explained everything that they needed to know.

Vegeta then decided to ask the question that everyone's been wondering for over a year. "By the way Kakarot, I think we'd all like to know how exactly you survived the destruction of Namek."

"Huh? Oh right, I guess none of you really would know how that happened." said Goku, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I honestly thought I was a goner. Surprisingly though, my body managed to survive the destruction of the planet. I couldn't breathe so I didn't have much time so I tried to fly around to find something to save me. Turns out the spaceship I came in on was fine too, if only slightly."

"So you mean to tell us that you held your breath in the void of space long enough to find your spaceship?" asked Nappa, finding this all hard to believe. "If that's the case, what exactly took you so long to get back here?"

"Well, thing is I didn't exactly know how to fly the ship myself. It was already programmed with the course to Namek when I took off from here. I just started pressing buttons like crazy. Eventually I made my way to a planet called Yardrat." said Goku, chuckling as he was felt a bit silly for telling this story.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes as he became ever more curious on the situation. "Let me guess, the reason you refused to let the dragon bring you back was so you could learn a trick from the yardratians, isn't that right?"

Goku smirked gleefully as he scratched the back of his head again. "Wow, you can read me like a book, can't ya? Yeah, though I was only able to learn one of them since I was also focusing on controlling that Super Saiyan power."

"So, we'll all be meeting back up in 3 years right? That should be more than enough time to prepare ourselves." said Raditz, a bit excited to have a real reason to train with his brother. "Glad to hear. I don't want any of you slacking off, not after everything on Namek."

"Are you kidding? I've never been more ready to train in my entire life." said Tien, excited to push himself to the limits after the massive power boost he'd gotten on Namek.

"Kakarot, don't let this go to your head." said Vegeta, catching the attention of everyone. "Don't forget that you owe me a fight. Once we deal with these androids or whatever, we'll see which of us is truly the strongest." After that, he flew off, Nappa close behind him.

Afterwards, Tien and Chaotzu flew off as well, unheard from for the next 3 years. Krillin went off to train with Master Roshi for the entirety of the 3 years along with Yamcha. Goku, Piccolo, Gohan and Raditz all trained with each other for the most part of the 3 years. Raditz would every so often skip out on training to go deal with a personal matter that he was certain to keep hidden from Goku until he was certain the time was right. Even after Raditz achieved the state of Super Saiyan after a year, he would continue to skip out on training every few weeks and disappear for a few days.

Raditz woke up and stretched as he climbed out of his bed. During his free time from training, he'd been working on recreating a saiyan household not far from Goku's place, only a 10 minute walk. It was a 2 story household and had 3 bedrooms, one of them being a spare bedroom for whenever they had company over. He stepped downstairs and knocked on the door to one of the bedrooms. "Hey, it's time to wake up."

Roughly a minute after the knock, the door opened up and a little girl roughly around the age of 2 yawned, rubbing her eyes as she tried to wake up. "Morning Daddy."

Raditz chuckled, picking up the little girl and carrying her upstairs where a woman was getting out of the same bed he'd gotten out of just a little bit ago. "Launch, do you think you could whip up a big breakfast? I think it's time to introduce Nion to her uncle and cousin."

* * *

 **And that is the introductory chapter of the Android arc of the story. Now, I know that ending felt really damn cheap and could have been fleshed out better, I get it. But I'd rather not spend a majority of time focused around Raditz when Nappa hardly gets any limelight. We all knew where that story was going anyway so it was probably best to push it to the final results of that story. As for the name of Raditz's kid, I wanted to continue with the tradition of the family being named after root vegetables, so I picked Nion (pronounced Knee-own). Leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter and not just for the shoehorned ending I did. I liked the short but sweet fight I managed to push in so I'd like feedback on it. I'll answer any questions or comments regarding certain things that confuse you. That's it for me, tune in next time for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	22. 3 years of training Is it enough?

"532.. 533.." Nappa continued to count as he did his one-handed push-ups in 300 times Earth's gravity. There wasn't much else for him to do in this environment since Vegeta had left elsewhere a couple of months ago. He figured some basic exercises would do his old body some good. "And 550. That should do for today." He flipped in the air and landed on his feet, clenching his fist as it felt sore from putting all his weight on it in such extreme conditions. He stepped out of the training room and looked around. "Hey, Briefs! I need those razors again. Beard's getting a little long."

Dr. Briefs stepped out from one of the nearby rooms, dusting off his lab coat. "Again? I should really research if that excessive gravity training is the reason for your rapid facial hair growth. It's amazing you can grow such a beard but not get even a single strand on that head of yours."

Nappa groaned and began to look uncomfortable at the very mention of his bald head. "Look, there's a good reason for that. I just need to trim my beard. Today's the day that we're supposed to meet up and I don't want it getting in my way."

"Right, right." said Dr. Briefs, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a custom razor that he made specifically for the brutish saiyan. It was the only one on Earth that the saiyan could use without breaking into dust when he gripped it too tightly. It could also make for a pretty effective weapon. "Do try to keep my daughter out of harm's way. I tried to convince her not to go but she's as stubborn as always."

"Yeah, yeah." Nappa walked up to the window and tapped a button next to it, turning it into a mirror. _I'll never understand the reason for needing this._ He then proceeded to shave his beard to the same stubby length it was when he first arrived on Earth. "The only reason I agreed to that request is because she's bringing Vegeta's kid. I appreciate what that woman's done for us, but my duty to Vegeta is first and foremost." He handed the razor back to Dr. Briefs and walked off.

"How did my daughter end up having a child with one of those beastly saiyans? If it was Goku, or even that Raditz fellow, I could understand, but Vegeta? Well, I suppose it's better than Nappa." He then returned into the room he came out of, returning to what he was working on earlier.

Nappa knocked on the door to Bulma's room. He waited patiently till the door opened up. "Are you ready to leave yet? I'd like to get there before anyone else."

Bulma glared at the saiyan, causing him to sweat a bit nervously. "I just calmed Trunks down from a serious crying fit. We can't leave now or he'll start crying again."

"We can calm him down when we get there. It won't take us long to get there, just grab him and let's get out of here." said Nappa, growing increasingly frustrated. He was tempted to leave by himself, but there was something about Bulma that terrified him almost as much as Vegeta.

"Are you crazy?! I barely trust to let you fly me at those crazy speeds, but you also want me to carry Trunks at those speeds?! I might drop him and put him through some tremendous shock!" shouted Bulma, resulting in Trunks starting to cry again. "Ah, Trunks!"

Nappa walked over to the crib that the saiyan child was in, unwrapping his tail from his waist and dangling it above the baby. Trunks looks up at the tail as Nappa swayed it side to side, calming the child down and getting a giggle from the child. Nappa then wrapped his tail around the baby's waist and lifts him up. "There there little guy, you're fine."

Bulma smiled and sighed, taking Trunks from Nappa and rocking him to sleep. "Thanks. For someone so scary, you really know how to deal with kids."

Nappa chuckled, wrapping his tail back around his waist like a belt, looking at the sleeping child. "Well, I'm not proud of it but I was responsible for calming down the children before they were sent to far off planets, least in my adolescence."

Bulma chuckled as well, setting Trunks back in the crib after her baby fell back to sleep. "You know, Vegeta left around a year and a half ago. Considering her told you not to follow to continue your own training, you were free to do what you wanted. Why didn't you go out to find someone and have a kid of your own, like Raditz?"

Nappa sighed and put his hand to the back of his head. "Just because Raditz is an excellent copycat doesn't mean I have to do as he does. Besides, getting stronger to fight these androids takes my priority. Not to mention the fact that I'm actually quite old despite my appearance. I'm roughly the same age as your old man."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Would you mind watching him for a bit? I'm gonna grab some capsules in case we need anything. We'll leave in half an hour, alright?" She didn't even wait for him to answer before walking out of the room.

Nappa watched as Bulma walked out the room before looking back at the sleeping baby. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of the sleeping child. "Kids, huh?"

Meanwhile, Raditz was heading down to his brother's place with his daughter mounted on his shoulder. Nion was roughly 2 and a half years of age and was already a genius for her age. It was likely due to all the times that he left her with Chi-Chi while he was training with the others. He at least wanted to give Chi-Chi some company while she hadn't seen her husband in around 3 years, having only shown up around a week ago.

Nion looked up and saw a bird flying overhead, getting very excited to see such a pretty bird so early in the morning. "Daddy, daddy! Look, a pretty birdie!"

Raditz looked up and saw the bird, chuckling at his daughter's ability to be easily excited. "Yeah, that is one pretty looking bird. Just wait, when you turn 4 I'm gonna teach you how to fight and fly. Then you can see all the birds you want."

"Is that really a good idea?" Launch walked up from behind the two of them, needing to catch up since she spent an unnecessary amount of time getting dressed. Her hair was blonde this morning so her more aggressive motherly instincts were active. "Do you really want our little girl learning all that so young? I swear, if i see even one drop of blood on my little girl's skin, I'll shoot my entire drawer of ammo at you."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Gohan learned to all that when he was 4, so why should my little girl be any different? She's already oozing with saiyan potential, and the tail proves it." said Raditz, not showing any signs of fear at his wife's threat. "Besides, I'll be extra careful with her. I'll just start with the basics is all."

Nion wrapped her tail around her dad's shoulder and fell back, hanging upside-down and looking at her mother. "Don't worry mommy, daddy can't hurt me. I scared him yesterday when I showed him I could break a stick."

Launch looked over at Raditz for confirmation of this since she was out getting groceries yesterday, only getting a response of quiet laughter from her husband. She looked back at her daughter with a smile. "Is that so? Then I guess that makes you the strongest girl in the world."

Raditz and Nion laughed in unison as they approached the Son family residence, knocking on the door. "Come on Nion, pull yourself up. You need to make a good first impression."

The door opened up with Gohan showing up at the door. To the still short saiyan halfling, the only thing he could see was Raditz and Launch. "Ah, uncle Raditz! Dad, uncle Raditz is here!"

Raditz widened his eyes as a shiver went down his spine and tail, dodging his head to the left as Goku appeared in front of him via Instant Transmission and threw a punch, missing due to Raditz's accurate prediction. "Damnit brother, you need to be more careful!"

Goku was taken aback as Raditz had figured out what he was gonna do it before he had even done it, unsure how exactly his brother could do that. "What? It's not like that would have done anything to you. I just wanted to see how ready you were for today."

Raditz grit his teeth in anger, quickly calming down as his brother couldn't have possibly known that he was putting Nion in danger. "Any other time I would have gladly partook in a little sparring, but you really could have hurt her."

Goku blinked a couple times as he only just noticed Launch. "Oh hey, Launch. Long time no see. I don't think we'd have to worry about her, she's far enough to the side to not get hit if you got knocked back."

Launch coughed and pointed to the clearly visible tail wrapped around Raditz's shoulder. "I don't think it's me he's referring to."

Both Goku and Gohan looked at Raditz's shoulder, seeing a couple of small hands appears from behind it and a little girl climb up from behind the saiyan, laughing like there wasn't any danger to begin with. Goku fell on his back in surprise as he couldn't believe what he was seeing while Gohan just stared at the little girl, completely dumbfounded. "R-Raditz, don't tell me that little girl is yours!" said Goku.

Raditz cackled at the extreme response from his brother, already seeing today being a great day. "Yup, this is my daughter, Nion. Nion, this is your uncle Goku and your cousin Gohan."

Nion's eyes lit up with excitement as she hopped off her dad's shoulder and ran up to her uncle, tackling him and giving him a hug that would hurt a normal person. "Uncle, uncle!"

Goku stared for a little bit longer before giving the little girl a hug in return. He lifted her up as he got back to her feet, holding her above her head. "Wow, she's really something. I can already tell she's gonna be strong." He then handed her to Gohan.

"Heh, so I'm not the only half-saiyan anymore huh? Nice to meet you Nion." said Gohan as he gave her a light hug.

Nion giggles as she returned the hug. She wrapped her tail around Gohan's leg and pulled at it, tripping the halfling boy onto his back while she landed on her feet. The girl turned around to see Chi-Chi walk into the room to see what the fuss is about, running over to her. "Auntie, auntie!"

"Ah, Nion!" said Chi-Chi, picking up her niece with excitement and holding her up. "You're getting bigger by the day." She turned her head to look at the group of people by the door and her smile faded upon seeing blonde haired Launch. "Oh, you're here too?"

"Look Chi-Chi, I know you ain't a fan of me but you're gonna have to put up with it today. My husband's going out to fight some robots or something and I need to stay by my daughter to keep me calm." said Launch, walking inside the house.

Chi-Chi sighed and put Nion down. "You think that's bad? My husband's doing the same exact thing, and he's taking my child with him!" Remembering Nion was present, she didn't want to get into this argument at the time. "Why don't I get you your books, okay Nion?" She then left the room to go get the books that she'd been teaching her niece with.

Launch sighed as well, understanding exactly how Chi-Chi was feeling. "You boys are free to go, I can handle everything here." She turned around and walked up to Raditz, giving a quick kiss on the cheek. "You better not die on me, got it?"

Raditz grinned and nodded as he turned around. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be sure to come back home. Wouldn't be able to live with myself in the afterlife if I left Nion fatherless."

Piccolo stepped out from behind a tree, having been there the whole time. "Are we all set to go?"

"Yeah, I think we're all set. You ready Gohan?" Goku asked his son. When he was given a nod in response, all 4 fighters flew off, making their way to the island not far from South City. They met Krillin along the way and when they arrived, Yamcha, Tien, Nappa and Bulma were already present.

"Hey guys, took you long enough to get here. We've been waiting quite a while." said Yamcha, looking quite different with a new haircut, short and spiky rather than long and wild.

"You can blame me for that one, I needed to introduce my daughter to them and we got a bit distracted." said Raditz, chuckling. He then noticed a small child in Bulma's arms and his tail twitched as something seemed familiar about the baby even though it was the first time he's seen it himself. "Cute kid you got there. Must be yours unless you started up a daycare."

Bulma smirked, admiring the saiyan's sense of humor. "Yup, this one's mine all right. Best be careful, he might grow into a charmer and capture your little girl's heart."

Raditz simply laughed at the joking warning. "As if. If he's got half of Vegeta's charm, then I'm sure that there'll be nothing for Nion to worry about."

Bulma looked a bit shocked. "How did you know he was Vegeta's? The only people who know that are my parents and Nappa."

Goku started to sweat a little bit as he worried about the whole situation with the future Trunks might start to slip. "W-Well, if you look closely, Trunks does kinda look like Vegeta."

"How do you know his name? Neither of us have actually said it." said Bulma, looking even more confused.

While Goku was panicking and coming up with a plausible excuse, Raditz was taking a good look at the baby, noticing the small tuft of hair sliding out of his hat. From the way that boy from 3 years ago looked, the similarities were too much to be a coincidence. Add in the fact that Goku is acting all defensive, it didn't take long for the saiyan to piece things together. He didn't act on his newfound information though.

Around 45 minutes go by with everyone waiting for these androids to show up, but nothing seemed to happen. Everyone was had managed to find ways to pass the time but it still irked the likes of Tien and Nappa that the fight that they spent 3 years training for hasn't happened.

Nappa groaned and looked to where Raditz was sitting, meditating right next to the cliffside. He walked over to his fellow saiyan and knelt down next to him. "What exactly are you doing?"

Raditz didn't open his eyes and continued his meditation as he spoke. "I'm meditating, improving my control over my energy. It's an essential part of my training as it helps me pull off the technique I spent so long mastering."

"Right right, that technique that you're so vague about. If you have so much confidence in it, why not use it against these androids?" Nappa grinned, thinking Raditz is bluffing about this technique since he's never seen it used before.

"It's not that simple. It's a last resort technique, only to be used when things are at their worst since it breaks my arm every time I use it." answered Raditz, opening his eye as he noticed someone approaching. "We're about to have company."

A flying car landed on the cliff they were all on and Yajirobe hopped out of the car. "Looks like I made it just in time."

While Yajirobe was handing the senzu beans to Goku, Nappa walked over to Bulma and quietly asked "Who's that guy? He looks pretty friendly with Kakarot but I've never seen him before."

"Oh, that's just Yajirobe. He lives up on Korin's lookout and occasionally comes by with senzu beans when we need them." said Bulma, watching as Yajirobe climbed back into his car and started to fly off.

"Something isn't right. It's already past 10 and we've yet to see any sign of the androids, or any sign of conflict thus far." said Tien, getting fed up with waiting.

"Yeah, it has been naturally peaceful. Maybe that kid was just messing around with us and just wanted to make sure we trained." said Yamcha, sighing as all the hard work he put in the past 3 years has been for nothing. "Besides, if these guys were anywhere near as strong as we were told they were, we'd have been able to sense them regardless of where they are on the planet, right?"

Right after Yamcha finished speaking, Yajirobe's car suddenly blew up, falling down towards the ocean. Piccolo noticed 2 figures in the sky above where Yajirobe's car exploded. "Look, up there!"

Everyone saw the figures in the distance but they flew down into the city before anyone could identify them. "What's going on? I couldn't track them at all."

"I-It must be because they're androids. They don't have life energy for us to track." said Gohan, making an educated guess at this point.

"Raditz, you should be able to track them with your scouter right? It should be easy to pick them out if they're strong." said Nappa, pointing everyone's attention to Raditz.

Raditz was already standing and scanning the whole city with his eyes while his scouter was running. "It's no use. If I had to guess, my scouter can't pick them up unless they're directly using their energy."

"Guess we have no choice. Split up and try to find them with your eyes. If you find them, don't engage and contact the others!" shouted Goku. "Gohan, grab Yajirobe. He isn't dead yet."

After that, everyone split up, trying to find these androids without any idea on that they look like. Nappa started shouting as an act of provocation to lure the androids out but that didn't seem to work. Raditz was unleashing his energy the entire time to see if the androids will hone in on him, though nothing out of the ordinary approached him.

Yamcha heard a scream nearby and ran towards it. When he arrived, there were already a group of corpses but nobody to be seen. "Damnit, where did they go? They couldn't have gotten that far, could they?" He then heard the sounds of footsteps behind him and turned around, seeing an old man and a pale, fat person right behind them. The moment he saw the red ribbon marks on their outfits. "So you're the ones who killed all these people, huh?"

Without even saying a word, the old man lunged forth to grab Yamcha by the face. Yamcha managed to dodge quickly enough, surprising the killer. "That's odd, you shouldn't have been able to dodge that. No matter. 19, grab him."

The fat one addressed as 19 zooms in and tries to attack Yamcha, who is doing everything he can to dodge the android, unable to find an opening to counterattack. The old man snuck up behind Yamcha and grabbed at him.

Yamcha quickly realized that his energy was being drained so he started pushing out all of his power to get the attention of the others. The old man was about to impale him but luckily Raditz was close by and kicked the old man away. Raditz then fired an energy blast the pushed 19 away. "Thanks man, I don't know what I would have done without you."

Raditz glared at the odd duo as they regrouped and stared the saiyan down. "Don't worry about it. But what happened to you, your energy is a weaker than it was a moment ago."

Before Yamcha had time to explain, everyone else arrived and shielded Yamcha from the androids. "Yamcha, go back to Bulma and get the senzu beans. Eat one to recover your strength and group up with us."

Yamcha groaned but left anyway, flying off to Bulma as the rest stayed and stared down the androids, outnumbering them by a lot.

"So, you're the androids we were told about. Gotta say, I'm highly disappointed in terms of appearance." said Nappa as he crossed his arms in dissappointment.

Both the androids looked quite shocked at the fact that they knew exactly who and what they were. "That's quite interesting. Tell me how you knew we were androids and the fact that you anticipated our arrival."

"If you're so curious, why not try to force it out of us. Unless you're too afraid to take us on." said Piccolo.

"Hmph, if you insist." said the old man, which the gang likely surmises to be Android 20.

"Hold on, we can't fight here. We should take this to someplace without any people. Is that alright with you?" asked Goku, hoping the androids would respond.

"Someplace without any people is it? I suppose so, though there's no need to relocate." said Android 20.

Everyone looked a bit worried at why he said that. Suddenly Raditz's scouter acted up the moment Android 20's eyes started to glow. "No, stop!"

It was too late however as the android fired beams from his eyes past the fighters, creating a large explosion. He continued firing energy until the entire town was completely leveled, hardly any survivors remaining. The android only stopped once Goku punched him in his cheek.

"You monster! How could you!" shouted Goku.

"I was under the assumption you wanted a battlefield void of human life, so I erased the human life in the area. It would appear you are not satisfied with my methods." said Android 20.

"Follow me, I'll smash you both to pieces!" Goku yelled, gritting his teeth in anger. Gohan was also acting up from where Bulma is but kept his anger under control.

As everyone started flying up to a new location, Nappa flew next to Raditz. "This isn't the best time, but I did a better and faster job of that the moment I got to Earth."

"You're right, this isn't the best time." said Raditz, trying to use his scouter to measure the androids at this close range but wasn't getting anything.

"Are you just mad that you didn't kill anything in your time here on Earth?" asked Nappa, getting a glare from his fellow saiyan.

"I can't measure their power in the slightest. We may be dealing with something bigger than anything we've ever dealt with and not even know. I think that future kid may have been right." said Raditz.

* * *

 **And that's this chapter. I owe you all a big apology for last chapter, I have no excuse for the bad quality of that ending. I tried to right the whole thing in 4 hours to meet the usual Friday deadline. I hope this chapter makes up for that. I'm gonna take a 2 week break from this story to recollect myself and have the next chapter posted 3 weeks from now. As a bonus, I'm gonna start work on a small side story for all you fans of the History of Trunks special so keep an eye out for that. Not much else to say this time, so tune in 3 weeks for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	23. Are the androids truly a threat?

Everyone touched down in a remote wasteland far from any known civilization. Goku had planned to lead them farther out but Android 20 demanded that they land immediately. Even though he couldn't sense any life around them, he checked his scouter just to be completely sure. He gave a thumbs up to the rest of the group to give the 'all clear'. The scouter actually interested the Android but was more prioritized on Goku himself. Raditz noticed that his younger brother was breathing heavily and already had a bad feeling on what it might be. Tien and Krillin also noticed but weren't sure themselves of the cause.

"Alright, before we do this, how about you tell us how you know all about us." demanded Goku, huffing as his chest was slowly staring to hurt.

"Very well, I see no harm in telling you since you're bound for death anyway." said Android 20, brimming with calm confidence as his facial expression didn't even change. "We've been monitoring your activity with a microscopic drone, ever since the 22nd World Martial Arts tournament up to your battle against the saiyans."

Nappa's tail twitched as he learned that their battle against the earthlings had been watched. "So you know of how even Raditz and I fight?"

Android 20 turned his head to the saiyan. "That's right. I find it quite interesting to find you back on planet, but it just means an additional threat to be neutralized. Not surprised by Raditz however, since he is Goku's older brother and gathering the dragon balls is a simple process for you ingrates. Nevertheless, our research over Son Goku has given us the perfect solution in which to kill him, then you."

Goku narrowed his eyes. "So your main goal is to kill me, is that right?"

The android turned his head to look back to Goku. "Of course it is! After the destruction of the Red Ribbon Army at your hands, their goal of world domination was completely eradicated, leaving Dr. Gero the sole survivor to exact revenge."

"So, I take it you followed us all the way to Namek and watched our battles there?" asked Piccolo.

"No, there was no need to waste any effort in doing so." said Android 20. "We'd already gotten a full grasp of your power and techniques against Vegeta. Based on the potential development of a person based on age, as well as all known strength developments in our observations, any increase in strength you could have gained would prove pointless to the scale of power in which we have acquired."

Raditz chuckled as he stepped forward. "Well then, I guess it's safe to say that this fight was finished before it was even started." He turned his head to Goku and gave a nod. "Brother, I think now would be a good time to show them a truly golden sight."

The androids perked up with confusion, unsure what the saiyan was going on about. Goku then started screaming as the area around him started being blown away, his energy skyrocketing as he completes the transformation into a Super Saiyan. The androids remained completely still-faced at the transformation of Goku's, not fully grasping its full power.

Around that same time, Yamcha and Gohan arrived, the latter carrying the bag of senzu beans that they left with Bulma. "Goku, hold on! These androids can absorb energy!" shouted Yamcha, quickly grabbing everyone's attention.

Nappa immediately fired a weak yet deadly looking energy blast at the androids to confirm this. Android 19 quickly saw this as a change and held his hands up, draining the blast into them and collecting the power into his own. "Heh, that's handy to know beforehand."

Android 20 turned to face Android 19 with an extra stern look on his face. "19, you just gave away our most prime advantage!

Before 19 could respond to that, Goku rushed up and slammed his foot into the android's body, sending him flying at blinding speeds. Goku then proceeded to fight him with ferocious attacks whilst dodging every single one of the android's blows.

Both Raditz and Nappa stepped up to Android 20 with smug looks on their faces. "Before you try anything, it's worth noting that the both of us are capable of transforming as well." said Raditz.

"We'd tear you apart right now, but there's more fun to be had in making you see your ally get demolished before destroying you." said Nappa, his old saiyan savagery starting to show.

While the fight, or more accurately the one-sided beat down, between Goku and Android 19 was going on, Raditz, Piccolo and Gohan all started to notice something was off. _This doesn't seem right. Brother's going all out right from the very start which isn't like him at all. And his moves, they look incredibly sloppy. Brother, don't tell me.._ thought Raditz, a low growl escaping through his teeth.

Around that time, Goku delivered a pretty hefty blow against Android 19's arm that knocked it right off. The android was sent flying by the force of the hit and got back up like it was nothing. Goku on the other hand was breathing heavily and clutching his chest, dropping to the ground. The android saw this as its chance and dashed for the saiyan, his remaining arm outstretched.

"Brother!" shouted Raditz. He screamed loudly as he transformed into a Super Saiyan, the first time he's done so in a while, and rushed to save his brother, knocking him out of the way. The android didn't change his course as he sensed even more energy emanating from Raditz. The saiyan wasn't unprepared however as he uncurled his tail and wrapped it around the android's wrist, slamming his foot down on the arm to sever it. "Damnit brother, you should have listened to the boy and taken that medicine!"

Android 19 got backed up and looked at both of his severed arms, trying to calculate how to continue onward without the initial plan to absorb their energies. "I'm sorry 20, I'll be initiating 'that'" His chest suddenly started glowing, causing quite the concern on Android 20's face.

Raditz went wide-eyed as this seemed very similar to the tactics of a saibaman. He wasn't sure what the best thing to do against this tactic was so he raised his arm as he was about to prepare to charge up his last resort technique, stopping as his scouter acted up. In a brief moment, Android 19 stopped glowing and collapsed to the ground, his head rolling off as if decapitated. He looked to the source of where his scouter was acting and let out a groan of disgust. "Of course you had to show up and take the limelight."

Vegeta flew in the air just a little above Raditz, already in his Super Saiyan state as he looked down on the lower class saiyan. "So, even a saiyan like you can achieve that state? Well, if anything, you at least let me see that a saiyan's tail turns gold when transformed." He then drops down to the ground and stares down at Kakarot. "Idiot, did it ever occur to you that the adrenaline from becoming a Super Saiyan could potentially speed up that virus of yours?"

Raditz groaned as he reached into his armor and pulled out a dinocap, clicking down on it and tossing it, letting it explode into one of the healing pods originally used on Freeza's ship. He picked up his brother, her was unconscious and screaming in pain from the pain in his chest and set himself inside the healing tank.

Nappa, completely ignoring Android 20 at this point, flew over to the rest of the saiyans and watched as Raditz put Goku inside the healing pod. "Isn't that one of the portable healing pods that Bulma's been working on?"

Raditz moved to the back of the healing tank, which has large metal straps on it as per his request, and picked it up. "Was working on. As per an agreement between us, any tech she makes from what I give her, I get first dibs on. This tank won't fix the heart virus but it will slow the process. I'll be back once I get him back home."

Meanwhile, Android 20 was watching the saiyans in pure terror, each of them acting so casually with him still present. He turned to look at the earthlings and Piccolo, considering if it's worth trying to use one of them as a shield whilst draining their energy. Considering his options, he started running north, making his way through the rocky terrain and using it as cover.

Everyone immediately noticed the android trying to run away. Raditz tossed Nappa a spare scouter whilst he hoisted the portable healing pod off the ground. "Keep me updated, I'll be back once I've made sure my brother will be okay." He then started flying back home at his maximum speed.

"I'm not letting him get away!" shouted Vegeta, flying after the android at his top speed, everyone else flying after him. When Vegeta couldn't find the android, he grit his teeth and flew higher up, creating a large ball of energy.

Nappa saw what Vegeta was doing and flew in front of his superior. "Hold on, he can absorb energy. Tossing a blast that powerful will only be giving him what he wants."

Vegeta looked a bit surprised at this development, having been late to the fight earlier. "Alright then, what would you suggest we do then? We don't exactly know where he is."

Nappa chuckled as he looked down at the ground. "Sometimes an old solution is the most effective." He clenched his fists and started screaming at the top of his lungs, the black stubs of his shaven beard turning a golden yellow as he transformed into a Super Saiyan. He took notice of where all the earthlings were and flung his hands upwards, causing the ground around the entire area other than where the earthlings were to glow and explode in a violent explosion. Once the smoke cleared, they could clearly see Android 20 trying to run off again. "I don't think so! Blast Geyser!" Nappa covered his hand in energy and flung it upwards again, creating a spire of blazing energy to block the android's path.

Android 20 turned to the saiyans in the air with a look of complete fright, unable to come to terms at how these saiyans were able to surpass all known data in both power and technique. _Damn it all, this is impossible. Under these circumstances, I'm forced to rely on the assistance of 17 and 18. But how do I get out of this situation in the first place?!_

Meanwhile, Raditz finally made it back home and landed right outside Goku's house. When he slammed the door open, Chi-Chi and Launch, who was in her nice personality at that moment, were currently cooking in the kitchen while Nion was currently reading the books Chi-Chi gave her, at least looking like that while she had a pamphlet on martial arts hidden by the size of the book. She couldn't read a lot of the words in the pamphlet but she at least enjoyed the pictures of fighting. All 3 of them turned to look at the saiyan when he slammed the door open.

Nion ran over to her dad and smiled as she was happy to see him so soon. It didn't take her long to recognize the stern look on his face while he started opening up the pod. Her face became mortified as she saw her uncle dragged out of the pod screaming. "Daddy, what's wrong with him?!"

Chi-Chi and Launch both ran over to see what was wrong with Goku, who was currently screaming up blood and clutching his chest. "Goku!"

Raditz powered down from his Super Saiyan state and ran past the 2 women. "We need to find the medicine that the kid from the future gave him! Launch, Chi-Chi, help me look! Nion, let us know if Uncle Goku gets worse!"

"Right!" responded all 3 of them, Launch and Chi-Chi digging high and low to try and find the small vial of medicine. Nion was on the verge of tears as she watched the horrific state that her uncle was in but held the tears back as she had to put on a brave face. "Hang in there, please."

Around that time, Android 20 was completely surrounded, nowhere to run and the ground to decimated for a place to hide. He grit his teeth as the odds were very stacked against him. He decided to go for a last resort tactic and hoped it would work. "T-Truly it isn't necessary for all of you to face me together. Surely you could decide among yourselves who'll face me one on one?"

Vegeta smirked at the pathetic excuse this living tin can was giving. "That won't be very necessary. I'll nominate myself to decimate you like I did with the other android."

Nappa held his arm up in front of Vegeta. "Hold on, maybe it's best to give the namekian a chance to fight the android."

Vegeta, Android 20 and even Piccolo himself were pretty shocked at this suggestion. "What are you saying, Nappa? Are you saying I'm not needed?"

"You saw how easy it was to destroy the other android, there's no fun if there isn't a challenge. If he gains energy from the namekian, he could become more of a fight for you." said Nappa, feeding Vegeta what he'd want to hear.

"Very well, I did spend the entirety of 3 years training for this day, it would be a waste not to fight." said Piccolo as he shed his weighted clothing.

Android 20 grinned as the larger saiyan simply made his work a lot easier. _Perfect, not only will I gain the Piccolo's energy, but I'll have one less problem to deal with as I make my way back to my lab._

"Fine, do whatever you want. Don't expect me to tag in at the last minute to save you if he starts absorbing your energy." said Vegeta, crossing his arms and powering down from his Super Saiyan form as he watches the fight about to start.

"Be sure not to regret that decision too much, Vegeta." Android 20 locked eyes on Piccolo and fired beams from his eyes before rushing in for the namekian.

Piccolo quickly dodged the eye beams and watched the android quickly approaching, giving a cocky smirk as he slams his elbow against the android's head, knocking off the metal hat covering the android's encased brain. He then stretched out his arm, grabbed the android by the collar, pulled him back in and punched the android, sending him flying past Vegeta and Nappa.

Android 20 struggled to get up and pressed his hand to his face, feeling a very clear dent in his facial structure in the spot where he took the punch. "This isn't possible! You weren't anywhere near this level of power when you fought the saiyans!"

Piccolo chuckled and cracked his knuckles, staring at the android with a menacing glare. "A lot of things happened on namek, not just for the saiyans. Not to mention I trained with 2 saiyans for the last 3 years, each with the power of a Super Saiyan at their disposal. Looks like your little miscalculation will lead up to your demise."

While the fight continued on there, Raditz still scoured through the house looking for the medicine, getting more and more agitated the longer he has to hear his brother screaming in pain.

Chi-Chi looked behind some pots on a high shelf and finally found the medicine. "Ah, I found it!" She ran out to the living room, the others running into the living room soon after.

Raditz swiped the vial of medicine from Chi-Chi and ran over to Goku, seeing quite a bit of blood. He looked to his daughter, seeing the brave face she was making despite tears rolling down her face. He smiled at the efforts of his child and turned back to his brother, pouring some of the medicine into his mouth. Within a minute, Goku already started to calm down, the screaming coming to a complete stop.

Launch smiled widely and hugged both Raditz and Nion, laughing a little as the situation was looking better, making her believe everything was going to be alright. "So honey, did you guys manage to defeat those robots? Or was it cyborgs?"

"Androids actually. We managed to defeat one of them, but I had to leave to bring Goku here before seeing that the others destroyed the other one." He rationed out the rest of the medicine into 4 shares. "The kid from the future said that this virus was viral, so it must be contagious. It's probably for the best that we take some of the medicine ourselves."

Nion take the portion of the medicine made for her and takes a full drink of it, her face scrunching up as she doesn't like the taste. "This tastes icky."

Both Launch and Chi-Chi took their portions at the same time, Launch not liking the taste either. Seconds later, Launch sneezed and her hair color changed into her blonde, rude personality. Still able to taste the medicine, she turned towards Chi-Chi and glared at her. "Ey! What did you make me eat, it tastes terrible!"

Raditz chuckled at both the responses of his family members and drank his portion of the medicine. He didn't find anything wrong with it, leading him to the conclusion that Nion inherited her mother's sense of taste. Looking at his brother, he sighed and sat down comfortable. _They'll be fine, I'll stick around here a little longer._

Back in the wastelands, Piccolo had once more sent Android 20 flying with a brutal attack. The android got back up unsteadily, missing his right hand, several puncture wounds all throughout his body and his left eye had been completely ripped out. "Ready to cry for mercy yet?" asked Piccolo, few wounds on his body.

Android 20 backed up into a wall as he was completely overwhelmed by the namekian, his systems failing to the point that he wasn't even sure if he could take another hit and survive. His hopes of escape only decreasing as he saw a boy with lavender hair and a sword suddenly fly over to them. _Who on Earth is that?! I have no data on him!_

"Trunks?! What are you doing here?" asked Piccolo, the fact that the boy from the future's name was supposed to be a secret completely slipped his mind.

The moment he heard the namekian call the Super Saiyan from the future Trunks, a light bulb went off in Nappa's head. He turned to look at the boy and immediately realized that the boy's hair was the same color as Vegeta's kid. He honestly hated himself for not realizing that fact sooner. Then again, he didn't spend all that much time up close to the boy when they met and it's been 3 years since then.

"W-What is that thing? That's what you've been fighting, right?" asked Trunks, staring at the mangled android.

The revelation that the kid from the future didn't recognize the android shocked everyone present, putting in a slight moment of worry. "You're telling me that isn't the android that kills us all in the future?!" asked Piccolo, turning back to the android.

Everyone suddenly turned their heads as they saw Bulma's car flying towards them, Yajirobe and baby Trunks inside the car as well. Android 20 grinned as this was exactly the opening he was looking for. "Your death draws near, for 17 and 18 shall eradicate you once awoken!" He then fires a large beam of energy from his remaining hand and sweeping it around the entire area, firing his eye beams at the terrain to the west to draw them away from his path as he starts heading north, using the smoke created from his blast as cover.

Nappa managed to save Bulma and Yajirobe, as well as baby Trunks with his tail. He gently landed on the ground, putting Bulma and Yajirobe on the ground and handing Bulma her child. He looked up and saw the future Trunks arguing with Vegeta, having a faint idea on what it could be about. His attention turned away from the arguing as Bulma decided to speak.

"So, was that old man you were fighting an android?" she asked, getting a nod in response from all of the group. "That's weird, he looked exactly like a picture I once saw of Dr. Gero himself. He must have converted himself for his own reasons."

"Hey guys!" shouted Yamcha, catching the attention of everyone still in the air. "Apparently that android we were just fighting was Dr. Gero himself!"

As the others landed back on the ground, Bulma started relaying the information she knew on Dr. Gero to the others. Afterwards, Trunks started giving up all the information on the androids from the future to the others, all the while Nappa informing Raditz about this through his scouter. Once Vegeta learned the location of Dr. Gero's lab outside North City, he immediately started flying there, Nappa in close pursuit as well as Trunks close behind Nappa.

Once Raditz learned to head for the area outside North City, he stood up and stretched as he started heading for the door. Nion quickly ran after him and hugged his leg. Raditz smiled as his daughter and put his hand on the halfling's head. "Don't worry, I promise that I'll be back. Look after your uncle Goku, he needs someone strong to protect him."

Nion's eyes widened in glee as her dad called her strong and gave her such an important task. She stops hugging her dad's leg and nods her head, stretching out her tail to him. "Tail promise?"

Raditz blinked a bit in surprise, never hearing of such a thing in his early days on planet Vegeta. Truly this world was turning him soft and that softness has become genetic. He curls his tail around Nion's and shakes it. "Sure, tail promise." He then lets go of his daughter's tail and starts flying to North City, not going Super Saiyan as to save up on stamina.

By the time the saiyan arrived, the others had already shown up and were searching for Gero's lab. Vegeta and Trunks were arguing while flying aimlessly due to said arguing. Nappa was using his Super Saiyan speed to fly from mountain to mountain to try and find the cave that Gero's lab was built inside of. Raditz chose tofly over to Nappa to get caught up on the major details.

"So, how's Kakarot doing? Is he gonna make it?" asked Nappa, taking a note from Raditz's book and powering down from his Super Saiyan state to save on stamina.

Raditz nodded as he looks through the mountains to find the cave. "Yeah, things were looking pretty dicey back there but he should be fine. Nion's watching after him and if I can trust anyone to make sure he keeps calm, it's her."

Nappa chuckled at the remark. "I haven't seen that kid of yours since she was first born. Once this is done and over with, I think I'll pay your family a visit."

"I think I'd like that." As he was talking, he felt a familiar energy power up. The energy was undoubtedly Krillin's, so the saiyans flew to the earthling's location, where the others had already arrived and standing outside a large steel door. Just as Piccolo was about to fire off against the door, the words that they heard from inside sent a chill down their spine.

"17! Stop messing around and kill Son Goku's friends outside immediately!"

Upon hearing that, everyone other than Vegeta went a bit pale. "T-This is bad! The androids are already activated!" shouted Krillin.

Vegeta pushed his way past everyone and aimed his open hand at the steel door. "All of you better back up!"

Trunks started to sweat nervously and ran up to Vegeta. "You can't! If the androids are active, we have to get out of here and wait until Goku recovers!"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed in anger as energy started building up in his hand. "I refuse to believe I need that fool's help!" He fired an energy blast at the door, knocking it down onto the ground.

Raditz was quite surprised by the sight inside of the lab, the android they were fighting earlier was beyond busted up and along with him were 2 teen looking figures, one being a male with cold eyes and black hair and an attractive female with equally cold eyes and blonde hair. _These are the androids the future kid's so afraid of? Well, guess looks can be decieving._

While Raditz had been thinking in his head, everyone had learned a shocking discovery in the fact that there's yet another android by the name of 16. Yet Android 20 seemed quite adamant that Android 16 not be activated. Even as 18 was about to start up the android, 20 was shouting at the top of his artificial lungs not to activate it. Android 17 got fed up with the old man's shouting and pierced his hand right through 20's center. He then followed that up with a kick to knock off Android 20's head.

"Y-You insufferable.. Unruly brat!" shouted Android 20's head before it got smashed in by Android 17 stomping down on it.

Raditz backed up in shock as this new android killed its own creator. His tail twitched as his instincts were telling him to get away. _Damn, things aren't looking good in our favor. If there are 3 androids as frightening as the kid said, we may need my brother after all just to balance the scales._

* * *

 **Whoo, it feels good to be back. I honestly felt a bit empty in my life not writing this story after how much commitment I've put into this. Now it's time to get a couple things off my chest. To start off, if anyone feels this chapter was rushed, it wasn't really. When rewriting a story like this, spreading things out to a 4000+ word format isn't exactly easy. Yes I know there was a lot of dialogue I could have used at the end there but there was nothing I could have added to it to differ from the canon so I skimmed through it, hoping the rest of the chapter would be enough to satisfy you. Secondly, due to the ways I've written this story, everyone other than Krillin is stronger than in the actual canon. I know that seems really unfair to him but he's gone through the story the exact same way he does in the canon so there's not much else for him to grow on from. Lastly, due to real life stuff and the fact I don't wanna burn myself out like last time, this series will no longer be weekly and will instead come out every 2 weeks. I hope you understand and continue to support me. That's it from me, tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	24. The androids fight back A true threat

Raditz growled as he was fighting his instincts that were warning him to get away from these androids. Even as Android 17 looked directly at the Z-warriors, smiled and walked back to Android 18, his tail would not stop flailing about while receiving several warning signals. "Vegeta, you can't possibly still be thinking of taking them on alone, are you?"

Vegeta turned his eyes towards Raditz. "What's the matter? Are you scared of them just because they crushed the old man's head? Go ahead and run with your tail between your legs, I'll handle things here."

Nappa narrowed his eyes and placed his hand on Vegeta's shoulder. "Maybe Raditz is onto something. He's hasn't been wrong when it came to a plan, so maybe we should pull back and consider a plan?"

Vegeta grit his teeth and shook his shoulder to throw Nappa's hand off. "I don't need him to beat these androids. Besides, they haven't done anything to be so frightening. Let's see what this new android looks like before making any kind of judgement."

That last sentence set Trunks off. "Absolutely not! I refuse to allow them to unleash another android onto this timeline!" He immediately goes Super Saiyan and fires a powerful blast into the lab, completely leveling the whole place and exposing it to the outside. Everyone barely managed to dodge away from it as the blast left quite a large amount of smoke and dust.

"Look, I understand why you'd act up like that, but how about a proper warning next time instead of just shooting a blast that wipes out a whole mountain!" shouted Krillin.

"Talk about a waste of time and resources. I'm sure Raditz would have wanted to steal some of the stuff in there." said Vegeta, an irritated look in his eyes but a calm smile.

"What are you talking about? How was that a waste of time?" asked Trunks, unsure what his father meant until he saw the smoke clear and the androids were completely unharmed.

Nappa growled and surrounded his hand in energy, prepared to hit the androids with the strongest Blast Geyser he possibly could, though was stopped when he felt Raditz grab onto his arm. He dispersed the energy and watched the androids open the container holding the third android, watching as an android around the same size as him climbed out. "Well, doesn't that just look discouraging."

"I wish I could tell you guys if that android is as strong or stronger than the other androids, but I've never seen that one before." said Trunks, trembling as the android looked intimidating.

As the androids started flying away, everyone started to ponder where the androids were going and what they might be planning. Raditz tried once more to use his scouter to measure the strength of these androids, though wasn't able to get a reading on any of them. _Damn, this is bad in a lot of ways._ He took the scouter off and stuffed it into his armor, hearing Vegeta become very angry about being ignored by the androids and became Super Saiyan, the saiyan prince prepared to give chase.

Trunks flew in front of Vegeta and held his arms out. "You can't chase after them! If you go after them now, you'll just get yourself killed! Please, I beg you, just wait a little while longer!"

"Oh, and why would I do that? To wait for Kakarot to recover from his sickness? No thanks, I'm more than enough to take them on myself. Though since there are 3 of them now, I'll leave that big one for Nappa." He prepared to fly after the androids but Trunks only proceeded to move in closer. "If you're so adamant about this, I'll fight with Nappa against the androids, now move!"

"Are you absolutely insane?! Even if you team up on them, you'll still just get killed! Stop being so stupid and listen to-" The saiyan from future was cut off as he took a punch to the gut from Vegeta before the saiyan prince flew off.

Everyone went and surrounded Trunks as he held himself in pain. Nappa considered following after Vegeta, but figured it best to let Vegeta vent before trying to calm him down. "It's useless kid, once Vegeta has his mind set on something, he won't change his mind unless it benefits him. And right now, nothing benefits him more than taking the androids on without Kakarot."

Trunks took a deep breath as he starts to recover from the punch. "If only I could get him to understand. There's no doubt in my mind that this same attitude is what got him killed in my time."

Raditz looked at his arm and narrowed his eyes. "What about us? Can you tell us how we died in your time? It might help us out in fighting the androids and creating a plan to take them down."

Trunks went a bit pale at the question and had to think of an answer quick, able to use his injured condition to hide his worry. "A-Ah, well I was only a baby at the time and my mom wouldn't tell me the exact details on how you all died, so I can't help you."

Everyone let out a sigh of both relief and discomfort at the lack of info on how they were supposed to die. They couldn't dwell on it as they felt the energy of Vegeta going wild quite a distance away, meaning he's already fighting, unable to tell how well he was doing since they couldn't sense the energy of the androids. "We need to, now!" shouted Nappa, flying off towards the fight without waiting for anyone to follow.

Everyone followed behind Nappa, managing to keep up pace with the saiyan. When they arrived, they saw Vegeta standing face to face with Android 18, both of them covered with scratches though Vegeta was the only one who looked out of breath. "Hmph, took you long enough to arrive. I suggest you sit this one out, doesn't look like you'll be a match for them."

"Vegeta, at least let me help you, we might actually have a better chance of destroying them, just like the good ol' days." said Nappa, trying to persuade Vegeta into not taking on the androids alone.

Vegeta actually took a second to consider it before smiling. "I'll pass. I have the android right where I want her, I see no reason to ruin the fight now."

"You know, it might actually be entertaining to fight 2 saiyans at once. Though it's okay if you want to run away, that's always an option." said Android 18, adjusting her hair behind her ear.

Vegeta smirked and turned his attention back to the female android. "Oh? You're in a hurry to die then? As fine as that sounds to me, I'd rather you struggle to keep your life, that's what makes this fight entertaining."

"Which is exactly why I'm going to let you continue to fight uninterrupted." said Android 17, who had walked up much closer to the group. "Seeing as most of you are martial artists, I'm sure you're aware of the honor of a one on one fight, so I'll give you one warning. If any of you intervene in their fight, I'll have to cut in and take down anyone stupid enough to attack."

"So, shall we get back to the fight?" asked Android 18.

"With pleasure." said Vegeta. Immediately after saying that, he watched as the android flew right at him. He had to move as fast as possible to duck down and avoid the incoming strike, then retaliating with an upward strike to the androids's stomach.

Android 18 didn't flinch from the blow to the stomach and slammed down on Vegeta's shoulders, knocking the saiyan prince down and leaving a crater from the impact. Vegeta growled and hit the android even harder, knocking her into the cliffside before launching a Big Bang Attack at 18. He rushed down to get a closer view of the damage he's dealt.

18 stepped out from the smoke, her clothes in tatters from the blast dealt to her by Vegeta. "I'm amazed, for someone who isn't an android, you fight remarkably well. Tell me, is Son Goku any better?"

Vegeta growled as the android still still wasn't even phased, despite all the damage he's done. "Of course not. All of the pure-blooded may be Super Saiyans now, though of all of them, I am the strongest of all of them!"

Android 18 removed her shredded jacket and dropped it to the floor. "What a shame, guess I have nothing to expect from him then."

As the fight continued, everyone else just watched in amazement, especially Trunks. The future saiyan was completely amazed that his father was this powerful, actually holding his own against the androids that were completely unrivaled in his own timeline.

Piccolo grunted as he watched the fight. "Looks like Vegeta's on the verge of losing."

Everyone turned their head to look at Piccolo, not believing what the namekian had just said. "What are you talking about? From where I'm standing, Vegeta's completely matched the android's strength if not surpassed it." shouted Nappa.

"That may be true, but take a closer look." said Piccolo, nudging his head back in the direction of the fight. "The android's able to take every hit from him without even flinching, allowing her to respond and attack at full force. Not to mention that Vegeta's stamina is starting to wear out while the android seems to have no limit."

As soon as Piccolo mentioned it, everyone began to see exactly what he meant. Vegeta's movements were getting slower and slower, the speed of the decrease getting worse the longer the fight dragged on. It was when the android landed a fierce kick that broke Vegeta's arm that forced Trunks to snap. The future saiyan unsheathed his sword, turned Super Saiyan, and rushed directly at Android 18. He swung his blade down on the android, but 18 held up her arm to block the sword, breaking it the moment it came into contact.

When he noticed Trunks fly at 18, 17 frowned and flew after the saiyan, resulting in Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo to fly after the android. Almost immediately upon the sword breaking, Android 17 slammed his fists against Trunks' back, knocking the saiyan against the ground and stunned him, which shocked Krillin and the saiyans.

Piccolo rushed quickly to jab at the male android but received a back-handed slap from 17 that knocked the namekian onto the ground. Tien threw a punch at the android but 17 effortlessly dodged it, using the earthling's opening to put him into a choking hold. Yamcha figured it'd be smartest not to go for the direct approach and created a Spirit Ball, tossing it at the android. Android 17 saw the incoming energy attack and slammed his head against it to send it flying back at Yamcha, crashing it into the earthling like a missile and knocking him unconscious.

The saiyans watched in terror as everyone was being so easily overpowered. Raditz's tail wouldn't stop flailing about as the saiyan knew it was best to get out of here right now, though was inclined not to run since he'd rather die than abandon everyone. He held his right arm behind him to prep for his last resort technique if things turn south.

"That's it! I'm not sitting around anymore!" shouted Nappa as he turned Super Saiyan, rushing down at the androids while he flung both his arms up, creating two Blast Geysers under each of the androids.

18 looked down and jumped out of the way before the energy shot out of the ground. 17 pressed down on Tien's neck to knock him out quickly and toss the unconscious human at Nappa while he created an energy barrier around himself to block the spire of heat energy as it came out of the ground underneath him. The androids both looked at each other and nodded, flying into the air and aiming their hands at the brutish saiyan, firing a barrage of energy at him in unison until the saiyan fell completely unconscious.

Piccolo, Trunks and Vegeta all got up and fired energy blasts at the androids with all of their energy, creating a large cloud of smoke as they make contact. Before the smoke could clear, the androids flew out of the cloud and attacked the remaining fighters, 17 kicking the side of Piccolo's head and knocking the namekian out. 18 slammed her foot against Trunk's chest, breaking a few ribs and knocking the future saiyan unconscious, collapsing to the ground. She then swung around and slammed her leg against Vegeta's other arm, breaking it as well, knocking the saiyan prince unconscious from the pain alone.

Raditz was completely stunned in fear at what he just witnessed. Seeing what the androids were capable of individually, he knew it was useless to use his technique if it meant only destroying one of them. He lowered his arm down and took a step back, his spine getting stiff as he pumps into Android 16, completely forgetting the android was even there. "S-Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Android 16 looked down at Raditz and smiled. "You have nothing to be afraid of. Your dna may be similar to Son Goku's but you are not him, so I have no reason to attack you." He then looked up as the other androids were walking up to them. "Your battle scared away the birds."

"Birds? Didn't even notice them." said 17 before locking eyes with Raditz, stepping up to the saiyan. "You're Goku's brother aren't you? Why didn't you partake in the fight?"

Raditz couldn't believe he was being intimidated by this punk kid, though his instincts weren't going as wildly as they were before. "You gave us a fair warning, I chose to actually listen. Why waste a perfectly good sensu bean?"

17 stared at Raditz in cold silence before smiling, gently hitting the saiyan on the chest. "I like this guy, he's sensible unlike the others."

"Is that what you call it? I was reading it more as cowardice." said 18.

Raditz grunted as he was being called a coward by this girl. He knew that she wasn't wrong, but it was better than chancing death in this situation. Choosing not to respond to 18's insult, he flew off to the unconscious fighters to go help them recover. Though before he could ask Krillin for the senzu beans, he saw the earthling running over to the androids to talk to them.

"What on Earth are you guys after? You killed Gero, so what's your end game? To kill Goku, or to tear the whole world apart?" asked Krillin, barely able to hold back his shaking after the events he just witnessed.

"That's a good question. Right now, all we care about is beating Son Goku." said 17, turning his head to the earthling. "After all, he's supposedly the strongest man on the planet. Now you better hurry up and get your friends some of those senzu beans. They might die if you leave them be."

Android 18 walked up to Krillin, causing Raditz panic and ready to go save his earthling friend, but the android simply kissed the short man on the cheek before flying away with the other androids.

Krillin stood there for a moment, completely stunned at what just happened to him before coming to, flying down to Raditz and pulling out the senzu beans he had on him. "Let's see, we should have 9 senzu beans split among me, Tien, and Yamcha."

Raditz dug through Yamcha's gi and pulled out 3 senzu beans. "These and yours should work for everyone. Though I should probably get the ones off Tien as well." As he walked over and started searching Tien for the senzu beans, he turned his eyes to Krillin. "So, what's your thoughts on her?"

Krillin blinked rapidly and turned to the saiyan. "Who, the android? Well, she's absolutely terrifying. You saw how she completely overwhelmed both Trunks and Vegeta, I can completely understand why they ended up killing us."

Raditz smiled and started feeding the senzu beans to the saiyans while Krillin was giving the senzu to the earthlings and Piccolo. "Aside from being complete monsters in strength, they didn't seem all that frightening. Especially that girl."

Before Krillin could properly respond to that, the others started to wake up after the senzu beans healed them. Krillin and Raditz went back and forth to tell the others what happened after the fight, Raditz leaving out the little kiss the android gave Krillin.

"So the androids knew about the senzu beans, huh?" asked Piccolo, growling as that just made things all the more humiliating. "I can't believe it, they didn't even see us as threatening enough to kill."

"I gotta say, it's pretty disheartening to know that all that training we did to prepare was pretty meaningless." said Yamcha, crossing his arms as he was taken down with a single hit during the fight.

Vegeta grit his teeth and screamed as he abruptly flew off. Both Trunks and Nappa were about to follow him, but Raditz grabbed onto Nappa's shoulder. "Don't follow him. I don't think this is something even you can calm him down from. He just needs time to blow off some steam."

"Damn, how could I have let myself get so overwhelmed by them? I trained 3 years under the most extreme conditions so that I could prove useful for Vegeta." said Nappa, clenching his fist and flailing his tail about in anger.

"This just proves to be a problem. If just 2 of androids were able to take down 3 Super Saiyans as well as us within the span of a minute, I don't think Goku stands much of a chance against them either, even with our help." said Tien, his words making Yamcha turn pale.

"There's something else I should probably bring up." said Trunks. "The androids in my time weren't nearly this strong, I was able to at least hold my own against both of them at once."

"I think you all should go and move Son Goku, make sure that the androids aren't able to find him so quickly." said Piccolo as he turned to look off in the distance.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. I mean, what else can we do at this point?" asked Yamcha.

"Wait, you said 'you all'. What about you Piccolo?" asked Krillin. As Piccolo just stood in silence, Krillin asked again. "Come on, don't leave us in the dark. We're all on the same side."

Piccolo grit his teeth and glared at the earthling. "Same side?! You must be mistaken! I was never on your side to begin with! I am the demon king reincarnate, you all were just tools to quicken my goals for world domination!" He then flew off before anyone could respond.

While everyone just stood in silence, Nappa scratched the back of his head as he watched the direction that the namekian flew off to. "Demon king reincarnate? Did the androids hit his head too hard or something?"

Raditz stared in the direction Piccolo flew in as well and chuckled. "That guy, does he honestly think he could fool me?" Everyone turned to look at the saiyan, unsure what he's going on about. Krillin understood completely what Raditz was thinking but decided to let the saiyan speak. "Back when we were still waiting for my brother to return to Earth, I trained with a namekian named Kami who was once the same being with Piccolo. The direction he's flying to is directly to Kami, and if he fuses with Kami, well you saw how well he handled himself against Freeza."

"But if Kami disappears, won't the dragon balls no longer exist either?" asked Tien, starting to sweat at the thought of having no dragon balls to revive them if things go south.

"With things as they are, that's just something we'll have to deal with. It's not like we can beat them any other way, we'll just have to hope Piccolo can handle them if he fuses with Kami." said Krillin.

After they finished their conversation ended, they all started flying in the direction of Goku's house. Nappa wasn't sure how he would handle being there since he's never spent time with low class saiyan except in battle. In fact, the longest he was around the saiyan was on that cliffside while waiting for the androids to arrive.

"Say Trunks, how long do you think it'll take before Goku'll recover from the heart disease?" asked Krillin.

"Well, I guess that all depends. There wasn't any proper studies for the effects on saiyans, but I guess 10 days would be my estimate." said Trunks.

After a few minutes of silent flying, Tien spoke up that he needed to go check in on Chiaoztu and flew off to Master Roshi's place. Yamcha thought there's no reason for everyone to go to Goku's place so he tagged along with Tien. Not long after that, they finally arrived at Goku's house. _Huh, seems pretty small considering who he's friends with._ thought Nappa as he looked at Goku's home.

"Hey uh.. Trunks? I was wondering.. The androids, are they truly pure evil?" asked Krillin.

"Well, they kill anyone they come across, regardless who or what they are. At least in my time anyway. Why do you ask?" wondered Trunks, not quite sure why Krillin would ask such a question.

"O-Oh, no reason. Just wondering how great it'd be if they weren't so evil." said Krillin, scratching the back of his head.

Raditz couldn't help but chuckle, knowing exactly what was on the earthling's mind. He walked up to the door and knocked. "Hey, we're back!"

The door opened up moments later with blonde Launch and Nion at the door. The child hopped into her dad's arms and hugged him tightly. Nappa stared at the kid and was having trouble processing the fact that Raditz has a kid that resembled her father, unlike Trunks. He noticed that Nion still had her saiyan tail and grabbed it to see if it was authentic. Nion gasped and went limp as the large saiyan grabbed onto her tail.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to Nion!" shouted Launch, slapping Nappa's hand off her daughter's tail and aimed her gun at the saiyan. She backed up when she noticed the large saiyan also had a tail. "Oh, you must be that Nappa guy Raditz talked about."

Nappa blinked and turned to look at Raditz. "You talk about me?"

"Of course. I have no reason not to tell my wife about my life before coming to Earth. That includes telling her about you and Vegeta." said Raditz, taking Nion inside to help her recover from the tail grab.

"Listen, I know this is your first time coming here but we've got more important things to worry about." said Krillin as he walked into the house. "Hey Chi-Chi! Is Gohan back yet?!"

Chi-Chi came out from the kitchen, with a sizzling pan frying an egg. "Yes, he showed up not even 5 minutes ago. Why do you ask?"

"We need to move Kakarot out of here. There are 3 androids coming for him so we need to move him to a safer location." said Nappa, leaning against the wall since he's too big to comfortably sit anywhere in this place.

Gohan ran out of his room and looked at the new arrivals. "Ah, uncle Raditz. And.. Nappa? What are you doing here?"

"Your dad's in danger, androids are coming, need to move him somewhere safe." said Raditz, who'd finally gotten Nion to get up.

"Should we take him to our place? It's not like anyone really knows our house is there so they won't think to look there." asked Launch, who was already packing up the food the she and Chi-Chi were cooking.

"That's too dangerous an option." said Raditz, walking outside with Nion following behind him. "It's too close to here that they might accidentally find it. Even if they don't find it, they'll head to Roshi's place anyway. If we're hiding out there, at least everyone will be gathered to fight back."

Trunks reached into his jacket and pulled out a box full of dinocaps, pulling out a capsule, clicking it and tossing it, watching it explode to let out a ship large enough to carry everyone. "Load Goku into here, we'll fly everyone to safety."

Raditz shook his head and pressed a button on the outside of the ship, forcing it back into capsule form. "If we're flying with a ship, we should use mine." He reached into his armor, pulled out a dinocap and tossed it, unleashing the ship that he'd taken from Freeza when Trunks first arrived, though it was upgraded a bit thanks to Bulma. "This thing will get us to Roshi's place in minutes."

"Isn't that a little dangerous to be flying a ship like that through the sky?" asked Chi-Chi, hesitating to let them put Goku in it.

"Relax, if it'll make you feel better, we'll fly higher than any other vehicle on this planet can casually fly." answered Nappa, already carrying several things into the ship.

It didn't take much else to convince Chi-Chi after that, though she was still reluctant to do this. Once everything and everyone were firmly settled into the ship, Raditz took to the controls and took off. He kept Nion in his lap to let her feel like she was flying the ship, which made the saiyan child incredibly happy. Nappa sat next to his fellow saiyan and gave occasional glances to Nion. "So Raditz, do you think the namekian will be able to get the strength he needs to beat the androids?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. If the worst happens, I'm prepared to get everyone we know onto this ship and fly it somewhere safe so we can train. Since the future Trunks is still alive, I'd say we have plenty of years to prepare to take back the planet from the androids." The saiyan looked down at his daughter and grit his teeth. "I just hope it never has to come to that."

* * *

 **And that makes the 24th chapter done. I feel a little disappointed that I couldn't make Yamcha useful at all during the fight with the androids, but the canon already makes him pretty pathetic, so I guess I've just been delaying the inevitable. I've thought of a way he can be of some significance later on but there's a good while until that moment. I know it isn't that big of a milestone, but for a little 25th chapter special, I've decided to do a Q &A at the end of the next chapter for questions regarding this story or questions directly to me so if you have a question feel free to leave one in the reviews. That's all from me since I don't have much to say for this chapter. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	25. A mysterious monster appears!

When the group arrived at master Roshi's island, Chi-Chi and Launch helped settle Goku into the upstairs bedroom. Nion wouldn't stop pestering Trunks about what the future was like, the time traveler refusing to say anything to the child as he didn't have the heart to tell her how bad it was. Krillin and Yamcha were currently training by firing Kamehameha's into the ocean on opposite ends of the island. Tien and Chiaotzu left before everyone else arrived to go do training elsewhere. Nappa was making use of the gravity chamber inside of Raditz's ship to train while Raditz himself was sitting on top of Kame-House, trying to think of a plan. As the saiyan was in the middle of his thinking, he was interrupted by the sound of Bulma's noise coming from his scouter. He pulled the scouter out of his armor and slid it onto his face. "This is Raditz speaking, what is it?"

"Ah Raditz, I'm glad I can always rely on you to keep that scouter on your person. Listen, is my son from the future with you?" asked Bulma, the tone in her voice suggesting a sense of urgency.

Raditz felt a bit confused as to what the scientist was so worked up about, but he knew it was easier to get answers from her if he did as he asked. "Yeah, give me a minute." He went into his ship to grab a few more scouters just in case before heading into Kame-House. "Hey Trunks, Bulma wants to talk to you." The saiyan tosses the time traveler a scouter and motioned how to put it on.

Trunks caught the scouter and did as the saiyan demonstrated. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Oh thank god, you're alright. When I called over by Goku's place nobody answered so I assumed something bad might have happened." Bulma's voice began to calm down a little as she could tell thing's were fine among the others. "Listen, we got a call from somebody out west saying that they found an abandoned capsule corp vehicle out there. They weren't able to tell us what model it was so when they sent us a picture of what it looked like, and it looks just like the time machine we saw you use 3 years ago, only a lot older."

Raditz and Trunks both looked at each other in surprise when they heard her say that. "There's no way that's possible, I have the capsule for my time machine with me." Trunks reached into his jacket and pulled out a box full of dinocaps, holding up one in particular. "Yeah, I have it right here."

"Well, there's no mistaking that this is the same design as that time machine of yours, though it looks like it's been out there for quite a while. Raditz, I know you're still listening, can you head into your ship? I'll send you a copy of the photo taken of it." said Bulma, her tone more commanding than urgent this time.

Raditz rolled his eyes as he ran out to his ship and walked into the main control room, seeing that the printer that Bulma installed for him had already printed out something. As he pulled it out and looked at it, his eyes went wide as he saw exactly what Bulma described. He quickly ran back into the house and showed Trunks.

"Ah, I don't believe it! That's my time machine alright! But what does this mean?" wondered Trunks as he headed for the doorway. "Mother, where exactly did you find this time machine?!"

"Well, I don't know the exact spot it's in, but the man who found it reported that it wasn't that far from Gingertown. If you're heading out there, I'll join you." answered Bulma. After that, things got pretty quiet on the other side, suggesting that Bulma's scouter was shut off.

Trunks turned towards Raditz and took off the scouter, handing it to the saiyan. "I'll be heading out to check it out. Will you be able to hold down the fort while I'm gone?"

Raditz took the scouter and looked down at it. "Yeah, we've got both myself and Nappa here, not to mention the other earthlings. Even so, you should take someone else with you. Gohan!"

Gohan ran down from the stairs and looked up at his uncle. "Yes? Did you need something, uncle Raditz?"

Raditz smiled and handed Gohan the scouter. "Mind going with Trunks out towards Gingertown to check something out? I figured as a half-saiyan like him, the two of you should spend some time together." He eyed down at the scouter in his hand, suggesting Gohan take it with him.

Gohan nodded as he took the scouter and stuffed it into his pocket, making sure to keep the transmitter on to make sure Raditz was able to find out what they learned. "Are you ready to go, Mr. Trunks?"

Trunks actually felt a little pale as he looked at Gohan, memories flooding back as he turned his head away. "Yes, let's get going." He walked out the door and flew off in the direction of Gingertown, Gohan close behind him.

As Raditz watched the 2 halflings fly off, he noticed Nion out on the beach trying to jump up to fly after them. He chuckled and crossed his arms. "Let's see. It's clear the power of a Super Saiyan isn't enough to stand a chance against these androids. Perhaps I could push myself even higher than that." He closed his eyes and powered up to Super Saiyan, gathering everyone's attention, even making Goku stir in his sleep. "Now, time to push myself even further!" A red lightning crackled around him as he tried to push his power even higher, though not even 10 seconds after attempting this did he drop to his knees, powering down from Super Saiyan, his entire body in pain. "D-Damnit! My body's too damn weak."

Nion ran over to her dad and pressed her arms on him. "Daddy, are you okay?"

Raditz grunted as he pulled himself into a sitting position, taking deep breaths as he tries calming himself down. "Yeah, I'm fine now, nothing to worry about. Daddy just tried something stupid is all."

Nion gasped and shook her head, slapping Raditz on the knee. "Daddy would never do something stupid! Daddy's the smartest person ever!"

Raditz stared down at Nion and smiled warmly, pressing his hand on his daughter's hand and brushing it through her hair. "You're right, thank you Nion. I really needed that. Mind getting Nappa for me? He's the really big guy with no hair in my ship."

"No need, I'm already out here." said Nappa as he walks over to his fellow saiyan from the direction of the ship. "Just what in the hell was that just now? Your power spiked for a split second and suddenly dropped to nothing." He held his hand out to Raditz.

Raditz took Nappa's hand and was pulled to his feet. "I was just trying to test the limits of my strength. My body can't handle the pressure of what I just attempted."

Nappa crossed his arms, trying to figure out what the crafty saiyan was up to, feeling a tug on his tail as Nion was pulling on it. "If it's your body that needs strengthening, why not just do some gravity training? Your ship's equipped with a room to do it, and those healing pods will make you more than ready in no time."

Raditz looked at his ship and sighed. "I would, but who knows how long it'll take before the androids find out where we are. Having my body adjust to that kind of strength and get used to the results as a Super Saiyan would take far too much time."

As Nappa lifted Nion off the ground with his tail, he powered up to Super Saiyan, freaking out Nion as the tail she was holding onto suddenly became yellow. "You're not wrong about not having much time, but you're a fast learner. You'll get the hang of it in no time. How about we go a few rounds to test where you are now?"

Raditz stared at his fellow saiyan and smiled, powering up to Super Saiyan as well. "You're on. Just don't make it as boring as it was when we fought 5 years ago." He grabbed Nion from Nappa's tail and set her down on the sands. "I want you to cheer me on, okay?"

Nion stared at her dad as a Super Saiyan and her eyes lit up with pure excitement, nodding intensely as she started jumping around in the sands. "You can win Daddy!"

Nappa flew into the air with a large grin on his face, watching Raditz follow close behind. "That kid of yours has quite the excitable spirit. To think I thought the Earth had made you soft." He got into his signature battle pose as he stared down the saiyan who he considered his rival.

Raditz grinned as he held his arms out, energy already building up in them. "You can gain a lot when you've got something you want to protect as a motivator. Double Sunday!" He fired 2 beams of pink energy from his hands, one going directly from the brute while the other spiraled around the other beam, covering a large range to make it harder for the saiyan elite to dodge.

Nappa watched the beams come for him, knowing Raditz's tactics too well at this point to make an attempt to dodge the attack. "Not bad, but you won't get me with that old trick!" He put his right arm behind him as energy began to build up in it. "Bomber DX!" He unleashed a forceful energy wave right at the incoming beams, stopping them dead in their tracks. He then swiped his free hand through the air, causing a detonation of pressure where Raditz had remained stationary. He looked up as he sensed Raditz's energy there rather than where he just attacked. "Not bad. You may not have confidence in your power, but you've sure got us other saiyans beat in the speed department."

Raditz glared in Nappa's direction, appreciating the compliment but it didn't leave him feeling satisfied. He surrounded his hands in energy and clasped his hands together, the energy building into a ball that continued to get bigger and bigger. "Alright then, let's test your speed. How about we test out a new attack I like to call the Weekday Mixer!" He pulled both his hands out of the sphere of energy, pulling one arm behind him and using the other to aim the ball at Nappa. He threw his fist right into the ball, causing it to break apart into several smaller spheres that all went flying at Nappa with great speed.

Nappa widened his eyes as he saw an unexpected barrage of attack flying at him. He knew there was no time to try and dodge and that Raditz must not be thinking straight as all of that attack was headed for the island. He tightened the muscles in his arm as he threw his hand up, creating a solid wall of energy that took every one of the balls of energy shot at him, leaving the wall very cracked. _Well that wasn't like him. Did something happen between him and the androids while we were unconscious?_ "Not bad, but it wasn't enough to break my new barrier trick." As he allowed the wall to dissipate, he noticed Raditz was no longer above him.

Raditz tossed a small ball of pink energy right at the Nappa's back, the weak blast containing a paralysis effect that left the saiyan stunned. He once again surrounded his hands in energy once more and pressed them together in the position to fire a Kamehameha. "Shining Kamehameha!" He fired his a spiraling beam of pink and blue energy at Nappa, creating a large explosion where the saiyan was. As the smoke cleared, there was a large broken spot on the back of his armor with a few scratches on his back.

The saiyan elite turned to face Raditz and smiled. "That hurt quite a bit. You've certainly grown from that weak and cowardly saiyan I once knew." He powered down from his Super Saiyan state and flew over to Raditz, holding his arm out for a fist bump, a new habit he'd gained in his time on Earth.

Raditz also powered down, staring at the fist and turned his head away in shame. "I may have gotten stronger but I'm still a coward. While everyone else went to take on the androids, I just stood there in absolute fear. I couldn't move at all. After everything that happened with Freeza, I thought I'd finally grown as a warrior, but I'm still the same as always."

Nappa looked at Raditz with an expression of shock on his face. _I never would have guessed that was what bothered him. From the way he was with his daughter a moment ago, I thought he was truly happy and proud of himself._ He turned his head to looked down at Nion, who looked like she was the happiest she ever was. _Guess he doesn't want to disappoint that little girl of his._ He returned his gaze back to Raditz and put his hand on the other saiyan's shoulder. "I understand, but don't let that disappointment in yourself ruin your image to your daughter. If I hadn't put up that wall, you might have hit her."

Raditz turned his eyes to look at his daughter and saw her sitting down on the sand, likely having been pushed down from the pressure of the fight. "I was so fixated on proving my strength I lost track that she was there. I owe you one Nappa, I might have messed up big time if you weren't a more competent fighter."

Nappa kept his hand firmly planted on Raditz's shoulder as he guided the saiyan back to the ground. "Come on, don't be like that. You've got far more attacks than any of us other saiyans have combined. Not to mention you're a thinker, I'm sure you'll think of a way to beat those androids." As the saiyans landed back on the ground, Nappa let go of his rival's shoulder and turned around, headed back for the ship. "Just something to think about."

Raditz smiled as Nappa walked away. _And you thought I was the one getting soft?_ He watched as Nion stood back up and ran to him, jumping into the air and landing in his arms. "How did you like it? Did Daddy impress you?"

Nion nodded rapidly as their was a glow of excitement in her eyes. "Daddy was so cool and strong! I wanna learn to be cool and strong too so I can help Daddy punch the bad guys!"

Raditz chuckled as he started heading back inside, eyeing both Yamcha, Krillin and Master Roshi, who'd all stopped what they were doing to observe the saiyans' sparring session. Once they noticed they were being looked at, Yamcha and Krillin returned to their individual training while Master Roshi went back to reading his magazines inside the house. "It's not just about punching the bad guys. It's about being smarter than them and having special moves to catch them off guard."

Just as he was about to step inside the house, Raditz stopped dead in his tracks and stared off into the distance, sensing an incredible power in the direction of Kami's Lookout. Just as soon as it appeared, it completely vanished less than a moment later. Judging by how everyone else was still doing what they were, he could tell that nobody else was able to sense it in time. _So, you really did it. You fused with Kami and became a hell of a lot stronger. Let's just hope it was worth the risk of losing the dragon balls._

Nion looked at her dad in confusion as he just looked out into the distance, where there was nothing in sight. "What is it Daddy? Did you see a birdie?"

Raditz snapped back to focus on the attention he was giving his daughter, giving her another smile. "I thought it was, but it was just a cloud. Come on, I'm sure your mother's made something tasty for you." He set his currently giggling onto the ground, watching her run inside to where her mother was. He took one last look in the distance where he sensed Piccolo's energy for a moment before going inside.

Around that time, Piccolo had arrived in the empty streets of Gingertown. After fusing with Kami, it hadn't taken long to get used to his new power or Kami's knowledge. He looked in each direction as he tried to sense the energy of the being that Kami had sensed before they fused. Almost as if on cue, he sensed the energy right behind him as he heard footsteps approaching. "So, you've decided to show yourself, monster?" He turned around to see a green humanoid insect-like creature holding onto a human in pain. Its appearance wasn't the thing that suddenly frightened the namekian, but the thing's energy made his skin crawl.

The man in the creature's arms looked up at Piccolo, raising his arm and yelling in desperation. "H-Hey! You there, you need to help me! I-If you save me from this thing, I'll pay you as much as you want!"

Piccolo took one glance at the man before returning his gaze to the monster before him. "If you can understand me, then let him go. However pathetic his might be, his life is still a life."

The monster stared at the namekian in cold silence while it dropped the man, surprising Piccolo that it really could understand him. As the man tried to crawl away, the tail swung out from behind it's body and pierced the stinger-like attachment into the man's back. The man slowly looked like his body was liquifying from the inside and being sucked into the monster's tail like a straw, leaving nothing behind of the man other than his clothes and and a wad of cash that he was holding. The monster took an emotionless expression as it stared in amusement as it stared at the namekian's frightened expression. "There's no need to worry, Piccolo. After all, you will soon be joining him."

Piccolo widened his eyes and took a step back as the monster not only spoke to him, but knew who he was. "How the hell did you know who I was?! And that energy, just what are you, monster?!"

The monster gave whatever could be called a smile with it's roundish beak-like mouth before it started emanating an incredible aura, destroying the road underneath them and leaving a small crater as it simply showed Piccolo an example of its power. "You and I are the same, Piccolo."

As the nameless monster unleashed its power, everyone else was able to sense it energy and it completely shocked all of them. Raditz ran out from the house while Nappa flew out of the ship to get a better sense of what was going on without the gravity training hindering him. Trunks and Gohan had both arrived mere moments ago after investigating the mysterious second time machine. When everyone able to sense energy all ended up running outside, they all came to the same conclusion, whatever they were sensing was not normal.

"That energy, there's no denying it. That's Freeza and his father!" shouted Gohan, staring off in the direction they they came from earlier.

Trunks looked pretty horrified as he wasn't as used to these kinds of things as everyone else, and the fact that everyone else was pretty shaken up by this only made things worse for him. "Not only those two, but there's also Goku, Piccolo and even my father."

Raditz grit his teeth as he immediately pulled out his scouter and put it on, trying to get a read on what the hell everyone was sensing. He could faintly sense what he could only believe was Piccolo in the same direction as what they were all sensing. He also caught an energy signature that could only belong to Vegeta, seeing as how it was so secluded from anything else with a relative power level. "I don't know what we're sensing but it's clearly not Vegeta or Piccolo, and I doubt my brother would be so reckless as to try picking a fight with the androids after just waking up, though I doubt he's done even that."

"I need to go check it out. I need to see for myself just what came out of that time machine we found." said Trunks, not even hesitating to fly in the direction of the the amalgamated energy.

Raditz and Nappa looked at each other and nodded, Nappa flying after the saiyan from the future while Raditz turned to face everyone else. "All of you, stay here and watch after my brother. If the androids happen to show up, raise you power levels but do not engage, stall them for as long as you can and we'll arrive as fast as we can." He faced back in the direction the others flew off and used the Kaio-Ken to increase his speed, allowing him to catch up to the others, undoing the power-up to conserve on energy.

The monster started at Piccolo as the namekian only seemed to glare at him. "I have no reason to tell you anything about who or what I am. As you are going to be absorbed into my body and added into my own power, explaining things would be pretty pointless."

Piccolo grit his teeth as the monster before him didn't seem very interested in explaining things to him. "Not a very talkative one, huh?" He grinned as that didn't seem like that much of a problem for him. "Very well, I guess it doesn't matter since I'll just kill you anyway."

"Oh, so the mighty Piccolo thinks he could kill me?" The monster raised an eyebrow as it seemed genuinely curious to why Piccolo of all people thinks he can kill him.

"I don't know how exactly you came to know who I am, but I'm afraid I've got bad news for you." He began unleashing his power as well, shocking the monster with just how great it is. "I'm no longer the same Piccolo I once was. You're looking at the ultimate namekian."

* * *

 **And cliffhanger. Cell is here ladies and gentleman (assuming any ladies actually read my story, I can't identify them in my reviews.), and that opens a whole can of opportunities for me to explore, most of which I already have explicitly planned out. I got no questions to be asked last week so I'll take the hint, none of you want to really get to know the author and I'm perfectly fine with that. Now, I know I usually just skim over things that don't involve the main saiyan duo of this story, but the Cell fight is a pretty big deal and it'll help make things more relevant for later events I have planned. Plus it's good practice for me to get a better grasp on his personality. Also I know the match between Raditz and Nappa was pretty short, but it was mostly to show off the new abilities of the saiyans as well as show that Raditz isn't the rightfully confident saiyan he makes himself out to be. Last thing, the Weekday Mixer is not the attack I've been building up, that's still waiting. Anyway, that's it from me this time. Leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter, favorite/follow it so you can stay up to date with it and tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	26. The terrifying Cell

The monster took a step back from the immense pressure being emitted from the namekian. "Not the same namekian you were before? Ultimate namekian? It's true that your power is beyond any of the data I have on you, though you still look exactly like the Piccolo I know of."

Piccolo smirked as he saw the monster take a step back from him, meaning that the fusion truly gave him an incredible power boost. Either that or this monster is incredibly weak. "You sure seem to know a lot about me, shame that I won't get the chance to pick that brain of yours before you die."

As the saiyans were on their way to Ginger Town, Trunks' eyes went wide as he felt a new power appeared in the same place they were headed, this power greater than anything he's ever felt before. "W-What is that power?! Don't tell me there are 2 monsters there."

Raditz looked to see if Nappa would respond the same way, seeing his fellow saiyan looked more shocked than surprised. "That would be Piccolo. I sensed him very briefly for a moment earlier, but his power vanished almost instantly. What we're feeling now is the ascended power of Piccolo and Kami fusing into a complete warrior."

Trunks looked back at Raditz, his eyes still wide as he was in disbelief that such strength was even possible. _I heard that namekian fusion is incredible but never in my life would I believe that he would get this strong. With that kind of power, we may not even need Goku to beat the androids!_

Nappa clenched his fist and grinned, torn between frustration and excitement. _Damn, this is the second time that namekian has completely eclipsed me in power. Though that means just like last time, I'll be able to reach that level of power as well._ He turned his gaze to Raditz. "What do you think, should we power up and hurry to him or let him handle it?"

"I have faith that Piccolo will be able to handle himself just fine. Though I'd prefer to get to him sooner rather than later to learn what he was dealing with. After all, we don't know what he's fighting." He put on his scouter again and read the power levels of Piccolo and whatever he was facing. The mysterious being's power was quite high, though nothing he himself couldn't handle if he played it smart. Piccolo's power on the other hand was so high, it went beyond the scouter's capacity. "I say we keep at this pace and keep ourselves out of his way while he fights."

As Piccolo finished showing off his new power, he locked eyes with the monster. "I must say, you eradicating the entire population of the city makes things a lot easier for me to deal with you."

"Oh? And what exactly do you mean like that?" asked the monster, thinking about how much a problem Piccolo might be but also how much power he could gain from absorbing him.

Piccolo raised his arm up and aimed his open palm at the monster. "With them all gone, I'm free to go all-out and do as I please." As the monster went wide-eyed, the namekian fired an energy wave that completely consumed his opponent, resulting in an explosion that created a shockwave felt by not only the approaching saiyans, but the androids as well.

As the smoke cleared, the monster was trembling in pain as it started getting up. It noticed Piccolo approaching swiftly and swiped its arm at the namekian, watching the namekian effortlessly dodge over it and kick it in the back, sending it flying across the ground. It slammed its arms into the ground to stop itself, but was met with another kick from Piccolo before it even stopped, getting launched into the air.

Once the monster had landed, Piccolo forward in a rather intimidating fashion. "Talk about disappointing. I was certain I'd sensed a frightening monster, but if this is all you're capable of, then I guess I was mistaken."

The monster breathed heavily, completely surprised at how powerful Piccolo was compared to the data it had on him. "I must say Piccolo, your strength is quite frightening itself, though it's nothing compared to what I'll possess when I achieve my perfect form."

Piccolo gasped at the information given to him by the monster. "Achieve your perfect form?! So you're telling me that's why you killed all those people?!"

The monster started chuckling as it swayed its tail around. "That is correct. By absorbing their bio-energy, I add it to my own and increase my power. The more I consume, the more powerful I become."

Piccolo grit his teeth. He was in complete disbelief that such an unbelievable reason was why this monster was killing people. "Tell me this! Who was it that sent you to this time through that abandoned time machine?!"

The monster's eyes perked up as the namekian knew of the time machine and that it was connected to it. _Interesting, he knows I'm from the future yet doesn't know who I am._ "Nobody sent me here, I came of my own volition. I'm surprised you knew of my connection with the time machine. Either way, it doesn't seem you're aware of my ability to do this." It pressed its hands together in an all too familiar position. "Ka.. Me.." The namekian widened his eyes and took a step back at what this monster was doing. "Ha.. Me.. Ha!" It fired a familiar blue beam at the namekian, creating a massive explosion even as Piccolo completely dodged.

Piccolo floated midair as he stared down at the explosion caused from the Kamehameha. _I can't believe it, not only does it have a similar energy to Goku, it can use his techniques as well._ In his brief moment of hesitation, the monster snuck up behind him and wraps its arms and legs around him, rendering him immobile. As he saw the tail that absorbed the man earlier heading for him, he thrust his body sideways, forcing the tail to stab into his arm instead.

The monster made a sound of annoyance as he was forced to stab into the arm rather than the namekian's core. "Your arm, huh? I suppose it doesn't matter, I'll absorb your immense bio-energy anyway." As it started absorbing from Piccolo's arm, the namekian growled in pain and slammed his head against the monster's face, giving him the opportunity to escape. Both of them landed on the ground, Piccolo's arm completely shriveled up and limp. "I commend you for managing to escape, but it appears your arm is useless now."

Piccolo growled as he pressed his still working arm on the shoulder of his ruined arm as he kept his eyes locked onto the monster. Just before he was about to rip off his arm and regenerate a new one, an idea came to mind. "You're right, I can't move my arm. Maintaining my balance has become impossible, making quick movements too difficult to deal with. I hate to admit it, but I'm finished."

The monster straightened up as its wounds started to regenerate. "Understanding when you're beaten is an admirable quality. If it makes you feel better, I'll be far closer to attaining my perfect form once I've absorbed your bio-energy."

Piccolo's eyes narrowed as the monster was regenerating suspiciously similar to himself. "Before you absorb me, answer me this. How does your energy resemble that of myself, Freeza and even Son Goku? And why do you know the Kamehameha?"

The monster raised an eye in curiosity. "Well, I suppose there's no harm in it, seeing that you're gonna die regardless. My name is Cell, and I'm an android born from the work of Dr. Gero's computer."

Piccolo groaned as the monster named Cell mentioned that name. "Great, again with Dr. Gero?"

Cell ignored Piccolo and continued to speak. "Dr. Gero dreamt of creating a new style of android, one that could be made from the cells of others, so he gathered the cells of the greatest fighters of this world. Due to the amount of time it would take to create even one of those androids, he abandoned the project and left his computer to complete his work. During the attack of the saiyans, we gathered the cell of yourself, Goku and even Vegeta."

Piccolo took a moment to process all this information and a smirk formed on his face. "From the battle back then huh? That explains why your Kamehameha did so little damage."

Once ignoring Piccolo's comment, Cell resumed his explanation. "Fortunate for us, we were able to collect the data of Freeza and his father during their brief time on Earth. And before you ask, the research is well underway. Though I won't be ready for another 24 years."

"But that's impossible! That laboratory was completely wiped out when we went to it earlier!" shouted Piccolo, expecting an answer out of Cell.

"The computer and myself from this time period reside in an underground bunker beneath the laboratory itself. Even if you completely leveled the mountain range, the bunker would not be harmed." Cell uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. "I think I've let you be for long enough. It's time I absorb you."

"Hold on!" shouted Piccolo, causing Cell to stop completely. "I just have one more question. Why did you come to this timeline?"

Cell grinned as he stood up straight again. "It takes more than just absorbing the bio-energy of people to attain my perfect form. The computer gave me the knowledge I need before I made my way here. To attain my perfect form, I must absorb the energy of both Android 17 and 18!" He watched as Piccolo was taken aback in shock. "Sadly they weren't anywhere in the future that I came from. Somehow Trunks found a way to defeat them, but luckily he had a time machine that was already prepared to take me to this time period. And now, here we are." He grinned as he held his arms out. "And the computer also told me that once I achieve my perfection, I'll have attained power the likes creation has never seen before!"

"Then let's make sure you don't get that way!"

Both Cell and Piccolo's eyes widened as they heard that shouting, an energy blast flying towards Cell from above. Cell swatted the attack away with his arm and was immediately met by a fist that sent him flying. He did a flip to land on his feet and his mouth went agape as he saw the forms of Raditz and Nappa in front of him. _These 2?! But how, they're supposed to be dead!_

Piccolo was still in shock at the arrival of the 2 saiyans, Trunks showing up soon after. He ripped off his arm and instantly grew a new one, shocking Cell as the android realized he was tricked. "What are you doing here?"

"On our way here, we realized we couldn't feel any movement from your fight so we were worried something might have happened, so we came here faster than planned." said Raditz, charging up an energy ball with a paralysis effect.

Nappa surrounded his hand in energy as he prepared a Blast Geyser if this thing makes any sudden moves. "I gotta say, that's one ugly freak you were dealing with. And considering it's giving off the same feel as pretty much everyone we know, it's even more of a freak."

Cell aimed his eyes back and forth between the 4 in front of him. _Not only are Raditz and Nappa alive, but Trunks is here as well. This is quite the unique timeline I've stumbled upon. It doesn't look like I have a chance to win in these conditions, but perhaps I can make some use out of my situation._ "It's nice to meet you, Raditz and Nappa. But I'm afraid I'll be leaving now." He raises his hands up to the side of his face and spread his fingers. "Solar flare!"

Everyone growled as a blinding light hit them from Cell's direction. By the time their eyesight recovered, Cell was nowhere to be found and his energy was nowhere around. Raditz put on his scouter to try and search for the energy and groaned. "I can't pick him up. Even though we could sense him, I don't think my scouter can."

Nappa knelt down and slammed his fist into the ground, creating a crater. "Damn, I had the perfect shot and I completely blew it. If I'd just fired it off when we got here, it wouldn't have gotten away." He turned his eyes as he felt a familiar energy heading their way. _Great, Vegeta's coming. Hopefully he's in a better mood than earlier._

Vegeta landed on the ground, sweating a little bit as he walked up to Piccolo. "You, tell me what happened."

Piccolo turned his head to look in a random direction. "Tien's on his way here. Once he's arrived, I'll explain everything."

"Then tell me, how were you able to surpass even myself as a Super Saiyan in such a short amount of time?" asked Vegeta, taking a glimpse at Nappa for a moment before turning back.

"It appears that he fused with Kami to become even stronger than before, apparently like he did on Namek." answered Trunks, going off the information he had gained from Raditz on the flight there.

Once Tien showed up, Piccolo began to explain everything to the others, making sure to to leave out any of the details that he learned when he tricked Cell into spilling everything. "That's about it. If he manages to absorb the other androids, then not only the Earth, but the entire universe will be in big trouble."

"You're just a bunch of spineless cowards." said Vegeta. "If this 'Cell' wants to absorb the androids, I say let them. It'll make things easier than just fighting all of them individually. Besides, it doesn't matter who the enemy is, I'll wipe them off the face of the planet."

Piccolo groaned and uncrossed his arms. "Think about this objectively Vegeta. You weren't even able to beat one of the androids, and you expect to beat Cell if he greatly surpasses even them?"

Vegeta snapped and glared at the namekian. "Are you looking down on me?! Perhaps I should start with you!" Nappa tried putting his hand on Vegeta's shoulder but the saiyan prince slapped it away. "I'll surpass them. I'll surpass everyone! I'll go beyond even Super Saiyan!" He turned around and took one last glimpse at everyone. "Whatever you're going to do, you can do it on your own." With those words off his chest, he flew off.

Nappa watched as Vegeta started to fly off and growled. "Damn, the fight against that android woman has pushed him too far."

Raditz walked up and placed his hand on Nappa's shoulder. "I think this time you should go after him. You're the only one who'd be able to calm him down. Besides.." He pulled out a spare scouter and handed it to his fellow saiyan. "If he plans to go beyond Super Saiyan, then you'd benefit training with him." He turned around to face Trunks. "You should go too. You still have your own time to save so any training you can get would be good."

Nappa looked at Trunks and nodded as he watched the future saiyan a bit stunned. "Yeah, we should go. I'll be sure Vegeta include you in the training." He gave Raditz a thumbs up before flying after Vegeta, Trunks close behind.

"What do you think Piccolo? What's our best course of action?" asked Tien, who felt a little overwhelmed as he was surrounded by Super Saiyans and a namekian who's gone even beyond that.

"I say we go after Cell. If we can keep him from raising his power beyond the androids', we'll be saving ourselves a lot of time." said Piccolo.

Raditz had his scouter on again as he looked south. "You can go and do that. If there's a bunker underneath Gero's lab, there might be something down there that we can use."

"Alright. If any sort of trouble happens, boost your power for a moment, then power up to full. Don't want to mistake you turning Super Saiyan for speed as being in trouble." said Piccolo before flying off with Tien.

Once he was sure everyone was gone, he sighed as he stared at a low power quickly moving south through his scouter. "Sorry I had to lie to you guys, but he's clearly trying to bait someone. May as well be me." He then activated the Kaio-Ken and started flying south to Gero's destroyed lab.

After a not so long flight, he took his scouter off his head and held it in his hand, not powering down from the Kaio-Ken. He found a hatch leading underground, leaping down to find a barren pathway. He noticed at the end of the pathway, there was a large metal door that was already opened. _Please, you couldn't be more obvious._ He rushed in with his free hand covered in energy, preparing to fire a paralysis shot as he scanned the room for Cell. His eyes widened as he could hear the sound of the tail swish as he looked up, seeing Cell dive down from the dark ceiling. The saiyan barely managed to dodge but Cell's tail broke through the visor of his scouter and impaled his side.

Cell started to laugh as he started to absorb the saiyan, grabbing onto his arms to keep him form firing. "You were a fool to come here. Now not only are you blind without your scouter, but your energy shall become mine."

Raditz grinned as he pointed his tail directly at Cell's. "I think you're the only one blind here!" He concentrated energy though his tail and fired a thin beam from his tail, slicing right through the android's, causing him to back up and scream in pain. Raditz quickly reached into his armor and pulled out a senzu bean that he kept on his person ever since the fight with the androids earlier. Upon eating the senzu bean and being restored to 100%, he transformed Super Saiyan and stared down the android, who looked shocked that the saiyan could do that. "If you're gonna run, I suggest you do it now. The others will know that you're here. Even with that energy you absorbed from me, there's no way you could take on Piccolo as he is now."

Cell took a step back as he stared at the Super Saiyan Raditz. _This isn't possible. I may have little data on him, but he was seen as an absolute weakling. How could he become a Super Saiyan. I underestimated him. Though if I can absorb him before anyone else gets here, even Piccolo might have a problem against me._ As he was about to lunge at the saiyan, he could see the yellow aura start collecting around Raditz's right arm. "W-What are you doing?"

Raditz chuckled, hiding back the incredible pain he was currently in. "This is my ultimate technique. I've never had a chance to test it out. How would you like to be the first?!" He took a step forth to intimidate the android.

The intimidation worked as the android went wide-eyed and ran off through the exit. Before he flew out the hatch to the outside, he turned back to face the saiyan. "Your technique won't scare me once I reach my perfect form. Once I attain perfection, I'll be sure to give you a death fitting your original demise."

Raditz's muscles started to tense up increasingly as the pain of holding the energy in his arm was getting worse and worse. "You think I'll allow myself to be killed by a simple beam to chest again?"

Cell's eyes perked up in interest. "Oh, so you don't know, do you? How interesting, perhaps you should ask Trunks about how you died. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to tell you how you and Nappa were killed." Without another word, the android flew out of the hole and started to run off, dropping his power level to hide from the saiyan.

Raditz grunted in pain as he dropped to his knees, dispersing the energy that he'd kept around his arm for such an unhealthy amount of time. Powering down from Super Saiyan, he picked himself back up and panted. He was about to put his scouter on, but noticed that the visor was broken. "Damn, this was the my personal scouter too. It was the only one with the tracking capacity to track him down. Either he's lucky or he knew I wouldn't be able to track him without this." He turned back to the lab and walked inside, letting his arm rest to recover from the pain.

As he stepped back into the lab, he took this chance to actually look around, seeing the large computer inside. As he looked to the left, he could see a tank full of fluid with a small organism roughly the size of a large cockroach. "So this is the Cell of this time huh? This little thing's supposed to cause us trouble in 24 years? If Gero had access to tech I stole from Freeza, he probably could have done it in 5. God, what am I doing?! This isn't the time to be talking to yourself about this." He looked around the room a little more and found some blueprints on a table. His interest grew more and more as he studied the details of these blueprints and learned they were the blueprints for Android 17. "Now isn't this interesting." He rolled up the blueprints and stuffed them into the back of his armor. He took one last glimpse of the Cell in the fluid filled container. He pressed his hand against the container and grinned. "I think I know the perfect thing to do to you that'll satisfy me."

Meanwhile, Nappa was sitting on a rock, trying to contact Raditz through the scouter. He'd convinced Vegeta to allow Trunks to train with them and was currently giving the kid a turn while he tried to report to Raditz. _Damnit Raditz, what happened to you? Don't tell me something bad happened._ He then heard noise on the coming from his earpiece and believed Raditz to finally be responding. "Raditz, finally. You shouldn't scare me like that, I thought something happened to you."

"Mr. Nappa?"

Nappa blinked a couple time as he had to register what he heard. He knew that voice and it definitely wasn't Raditz. "Raditz's kid? I-I mean Nion? What are you doing with a scouter?"

"Mommy let's me use it to talk to Daddy when he's away. Where's Daddy? Is he coming home soon?"

Nappa grunted, unsure how to answer the little kid. He wanted to tell her 'yes' but was afraid of what might happen if Raditz had died. "I'm not sure kid, we split up a while ago. I'm sure he'll be fine. You'll see him soon."

"Nion honey, are you talking to Daddy?"

"No Mommy, I'm talking to Mr. Nappa."

There was a brief moment of quiet before Nappa heard things again, the voice of Raditz's wife being louder. "You better tell me where my husband is. Nion told me he went to go check out some kind of monster and hasn't come home."

Nappa started to sweat a little. He really did not know Raditz's wife well enough to comfortably lie to her. "L-Look ma'am, I haven't seen him in around an hour. If anything, I should have heard from him a whi-"

"Oh, honey. You're back. Ah, what happened to your arm?!"

"I got a bit careless. Are you using that scouter?"

"Oh, Nion was using it to talk to you, though she got your large friend instead."

As he heard Raditz start talking to his daughter, Nappa couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the cozy life the saiyan has. Once he heard that Raditz put on the scouter, Nappa finally decided to speak. "It's about time. What happened to your own scouter?"

"Look, a lot happened while I went to Gero's lab. Listen, what I'm about to tell you is to remain a secret."

"Sure, you got it." Nappa sat on a rock as he listened carefully to everything Raditz says, learning about what entirely happened at Gero's lab. At the very end, his eyes widened as he abruptly stood up. "You did what?!"

* * *

 **Once more, another chapter done and gone. I gotta say, I kinda like getting to write unique dialogue for Cell and it's just gonna get better the more I progress. Meanwhile I'm still being a jerk by holding out on Raditz's technique that I've been building up since the end of chapter 11 and only teasing it. I don't seem to have much else to say for this one. Leave a review to tell me what you thought and follow/favorite it if you haven't already. Tune in next time for the next possibly exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	27. Goku awakens A new method of training

Bulma and her dad were currently scoping through the numerous sheets of paper detailing the blueprints that make up Android 17. Raditz was currently leaning on a piece of equipment with Nion currently sitting on his shoulder. "So you really want us to use these blueprints to find some kind of weakness in the androids?" asked Bulma as she picked up one of the sheets.

"It's truly amazing what Dr. Gero was capable of." said Mr. Briefs as he examined one of the sheets. "There's a lot of these things here that even I can barely understand."

"According to these blueprints, the androids were entirely human to start off with, but just about everything was enhanced with bio-organic components." said Bulma, turning her head from the sheet in her hand to the ones still on the table.

Raditz held his arm out with Nion hanging from it by her tail, keeping his daughter entertained while keeping focused on the conversation. "So in theory, he could even do the same with a saiyan?"

Both Bulma and her father looked at each other before looking at Raditz. "Yes, I believe that would be possible. Though with how unruly you mentioned those other androids to be, even Dr. Gero would know better than to try that with a saiyan. Why do you ask?"

"Just a thought I had while reading those blueprints myself." Raditz watched Nion slip from his arm and quickly caught her with his tail, wrapping it around her waist. "Considering what he had planned with Cell, who knows what other projects he might have had in mind."

"Speaking of which, Cell's supposed to exist in our current time but not finished right?" asked Bulma, setting down the blueprint sheet. "You made sure to take care of it, right?"

After setting Nion down, Raditz walked over to the table, slamming his hand on it with a grin on his face. "Yeah, I took care of it. Also made sure blow the underground lab to high hell. Also, think we could talk in private tomorrow?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I should be able make time for that, if you don't mind helping me read through these." said Bulma. Upon hearing baby Trunks starting to cry, she immediately ran over to go calm him down.

Nion ran over to the crib and watched Bulma cradle Trunks in her arms. "He's so little."

Bulma smiled at Nion as she rocked Trunks back and forth in her arms. "You were this little when you were his age too."

Nion smiled and put her hands to her hips, doing a prideful pose that she's seen her dad do a few times at home. "Well I'll be really big when I grow up."

Raditz chuckled as he walked over to them, leaving Dr. Briefs to examine the blueprints alone. "That'll be a while. Saiyans tend to reach their growth spurts pretty late, though it's a significant growth. Meanwhile, Vegeta's short regardless." He then looked directly at Trunks. "Lucky him that he'll grow up taller than Vegeta thanks to being only half Vegeta."

Nion lowered her head as her dad told her that it'd be a while before she was big like him. In her state of sadness, she felt Raditz's tail wrap around her. She immediately smiled and hugged him.

Raditz sighed with a smile as he picked up his daughter and started to walk away. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He flew back to Kame House with Nion in his arms, careful not to let go of her.

When the father and daughter arrived at the small island, none of the others were currently there, all out to find Cell. He noticed Master Roshi currently lying down in his lawn chair reading a magazine, choosing to hurry and and take Nion inside before she saw just what was on the magazine. Inside, Launch was currently sleeping on the couch while Chi-Chi was busy cooking in the kitchen. Nion ran upstairs to see how well Goku was doing.

Raditz walked back outside and looked at his spaceship. _Tomorrow is when my long term plan begins. Let's hope things work out well._ He stepped into his ship and activated the gravity chamber, forcing himself to float in the air and into a meditative position he'd learned while training with Piccolo. His goal was to master controlling his energy even in extreme conditions. _If I can pull this off, it might be possible to do **that**._

About 10 minutes go by before Raditz was forced to yield to the intense gravity, shutting it down. He took several deep breaths before standing back on his feet, grunting at how much his body ached. _Damn, I know my brother mastered 100 times Earth's gravity in 4 days, but it's obvious he took no shortcuts in doing so. I need more time, but who knows how long it'll take for the androids to look for us here, or how long we have until Cell becomes too strong for us to deal with._ He walked out of the gravity chamber and looked down at a door he had locked up for personal reasons. He made his way back inside the house and leaned against the couch Launch was sleeping, closing his eyes to fall asleep. Today had been a very stressful day.

Meanwhile, Nappa had been training with Vegeta and Trunks the entire time all that had been going on. He had to make up a lie to cover his sudden outburst from earlier, though it was easier to convince the 2 of them since they'd prefer to get back to training. At the current moment, Nappa was testing the limits of his new barrier technique by constantly taking both physical attacks and energy blasts from the father-son duo. By constantly pooling more and more power into it, it was holding up surprisingly well, even against Vegeta's Big Bang Attack. Nappa dropped his barrier and fell to his knees as it became clearly night, the other saiyans exhausted as well.

Vegeta leaned back against a rock and looked at his hand, clenching it into a fist. "Damnit, my attacks aren't producing as much power as I need them to. If this 'Cell' can regenerate the same as the namekian and is made up of Freeza's cells, that could present a problem. Not to mention its saiyan cells could likely increase its power if we allow it to regenerate from a devastating hit."

"So what are you suggesting Vegeta? You saying we ought to find a way to wipe it out in one blast? Seems like an easy job if we just wanna end up destroying the planet." said Nappa, taking a bite out of some meat that he'd initially packed when they were waiting for the androids to appear in South City.

Trunks just sat there quietly, sweating a little at the mention of either his father or Nappa considering to blow up the planet.

Vegeta also took a bite out of some meat and stared at the sky. "Yes, that would solve many problems, now wouldn't it? Unfortunately without immediate access to a spaceship, we'd just suffocate in the vacuum of space anyway."

"Perhaps we could save blowing up the planet as a last resort? Besides, who's to say the androids won't be killed by an explosion like that?" asked Trunks, trying to convince the full-blooded saiyans away from the idea of destroying the Earth.

Nappa turned his gaze to Trunks and recalled one of the things Raditz had told him over the scouter earlier. "Listen kid, I think you've been holding something back against us. You didn't even know me and Raditz were when you met us, did you?"

Both Trunks and Vegeta perked their head up. Vegeta looked at Trunks and noticed his son from the future was starting to sweat. "Spit it out, there's no point in trying to hide it. It won't alter your history after all."

Trunks groaned in discomfort as he lowered his head. "Yeah, I didn't know who you were. I'm sure if I asked my mom about you guys, she might have known something, but you definitely weren't among those who died against the androids."

Nappa crossed his arms as he soaked in that little bit of information. "Guess that explains why you didn't come here with a future version of Raditz's little runt. Though I'd imagine with two of you, you might have stood a better chance against the androids."

"It's pathetic that he'd even need help against them." said Vegeta, looking off in the distance with his fist clenched. _A time without Nappa to help me. I can't even imagine how I'd have gotten this far without him._

"The androids are more of a threat than you realize. I could hold my ground against them, but their teamwork is too much for anyone to take on by themselves. That's how.." Trunks grits his teeth and crushed a rock in his hand. "That's how they ended up killing Gohan."

Nappa and Vegeta looked at each other and sighed in unison. "Don't beat yourself up kid. Despite how he acts about it, he's not entirely opposed to working together. That's how we managed to survive on Namek. At least against Freeza. You should have seen it, all 4 of us saiyans working together to take down the one who destroyed our planet."

Vegeta gave a slight chuckle before looking away. "As much as it pained me to work alongside Kakarot, it was greatly satisfying to see Freeza breaking down from being defeated by saiyans, as well as witnessing the birth of 2 Super Saiyans at once."

As the saiyans went back and forth about the moments they personally enjoyed back on Namek, Trunks listened intently and gave a slight smile. _I know he isn't the same dad from our timeline, but he's not quite the same man you described to me mom. There's a part of him that does care for something other than himself._

The next day, Raditz went over to Bulma's place. He requested to have his scouter repaired as well as drop off some equipment that he'd taken from Gero's lab. He spent the rest of the training in the gravity chamber, pushing himself to the breaking point and healing himself inside one of the healing tanks, spending the entire day repeating that process. The next day, he joined the others in chasing down Cell, having no luck in tracking the android down. The day after that, they learned on the news that Cell's in the south. Deciding to change up tactics, they decided to use Raditz's ship to fly to where Cell was while hiding their power levels.

Upon arriving to the city, Raditz flew out of the ship, turned Super Saiyan, and started firing down at the city down below, holding nothing back as he was reducing the entire city into a smoldering crater to either draw Cell out of hiding or kill the android. Seeing the benefits of Raditz's tactic, they started working on the surrounding area, making sure Cell couldn't escape so easily. After the city was thoroughly wiped off the map and there wasn't a single sign of retaliation from the android, they knew it was all in vain. As everyone stepped back inside the ship, Raditz growled and swung his fist to hit the side of the ship, only to barely miss Goku who'd just used Instant Transmission to get himself inside.

"Whoa, geez Raditz! I know everything with Cell has got you all frustrated but there's no need to take it out on me!" shouted Goku, wiping his forehead as he wasn't in full fighting shape after recovering from the heart virus.

Everyone went wide-eyed as they saw Goku just pop in with no warning. Raditz backed up a bit as he'd almost knocked his brother back into unconsciousness. "What are you doing here? I thought you were still recovering from the heart virus."

"Looks like I recovered faster than I expected, though I could have gotten a bit to eat before coming here." Goku looked at Piccolo and stared at the namekian for a few moments before smiling. "How's it going Kami-ccolo?"

Piccolo stiffened a bit and growled at the saiyan. "Don't go merging our names together, Piccolo's good enough. Seeing that you mentioned Cell without anyone giving you that name, I'm guessing you're already up to speed."

Goku nodded, his smile weakening as he became more serious. "I hate to say it, but from what it sounds like, I don't think I can take on these new androids or Cell, especially if Vegeta wasn't able to take one of them on himself. That's why I'm here to take Gohan and Raditz with me to get a full year's worth of training done in a day."

Raditz's tail flicked as what his brother had just said interested him greatly. Meanwhile, Piccolo looked genuinely surprised at Goku's suggestion. "So, you plan to make use of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber? Are you sure you'll be alright in there? I know it's been a while since you used it yourself, but you could barely last a whole month in there."

"Let's hope that we're able to do it, otherwise things might end up bad. I'll also be taking Vegeta, Nappa and Trunks with me. With any luck, at least one pair will be able to handle being inside the chamber." Goku turned to his brother, having no doubt that Raditz would pass on this opportunity.

"Wait, so only a 2 people can go in at a time?" Once he got a nod from Goku, Raditz turned to looked at the others. "Think the rest of you guys can fly back to the Roshi's place? I'd like to have my ship to train while waiting for my turn."

Krillin, Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo looked at each other before nodding, making their way for the exit of the ship. Krillin turned back to look at Goku one last time. "Before we go, I gotta know one thing. With all these guys way stronger than even Freeza, does that scare you or excite you?"

Goku chuckled a bit as he put his fingers to his forehead as he prepared to use his Instant Transmission again. "A little bit of both actually." With nothing else to say, he and Gohan completely vanished in thin air.

Once everyone had left the ship, Raditz made his way to the controls, focusing on the concentration of energy emitted by every other saiyan, besides Nion, being in one place. Once he'd got that confirmation, he started flying his ship to Kami's Lookout.

Trunks and Nappa were in the midst of training when Goku and Gohan appeared out of nowhere, warranting enough reason to stop the training session. "Well well, look who finally decided to join us in this critical time." said Nappa as he made his way over to Vegeta, who was just staring off the edge of a cliff. "Kakarot's here. Got anything to say?"

Vegeta took one look at Goku before looking away, not saying anything loud enough for his rival to hear. "I've no reason to go speak to that bumbling idiot. Send him away."

Nappa sighed and scratched the back of his head as he made his way back to the others. "Listen Kakarot, Vegeta's would prefer if you went elsewhere with your training. So can you, your son and Raditz leave? Wait, where is Raditz?"

"He's already headed up to Kami's Lookout. That's why I'm here actually. There's a way to get a year's worth of training in a day up there, so I thought you guys would want to give it a shot, though only 2 people can go in at a time." said Goku.

Both Trunks and Nappa looked absolutely shocked and confused to hear this, too much so for Nappa to stop Goku from flying over to Vegeta. Trunks smiled and turned to Nappa. "I don't know if what Goku said was true, but if it is then you and father could could go beyond Super Saiyan in no time at all!"

Nappa put his hand to his chin as he had to think for a moment, turning his eyes to Trunks. "Actually, maybe you should go in with him. After all, you have a future to save, don't you?"

While Gohan and Trunks were astonished by Nappa's choice not to train with Vegeta, Goku and Vegeta were walking back from the cliff. "Alright, looks like we're all set. It's been decided Vegeta will go first. Now everyone, grab onto me, I'll use Instant Transmission to take us there faster."

Everyone did as suggested and put their hands on Goku. Moments later, they were atop Kami's Lookout, Mr. Popo and Raditz standing not to far away from them.

"Ah, you're all here. Raditz has already informed me of the situation. Follow me." Mr. Popo started walking, prompting everyone to follow with everyone other than Goku and Raditz internally questioning what Mr. Popo is. "The time chamber has bath, bed, toilet and plenty of food. In other words, you'll have all the resources you'll need to train without issue." He stops in front of a door and turns around, eyeing all 6 of the saiyans. "Now, who'll be going first?"

As Goku was about to answer, Nappa cut in. "That would be Vegeta and Trunks."

As Mr. Popo nodded and started to open the door, Vegeta walked over to Nappa. "What the hell are you doing? You'd make a much better training partner than the boy."

"Look, back when we were on our way to Earth for the first time, we both realized that human-saiyan hybrids hold an incredible amount of potential. He may not be the ideal training partner right now, but he could be if you train him right." said Nappa, putting his hand on Vegeta's shoulder as he says one more thing. "After all, he is your son." The larger saiyan then walked over to Raditz.

Vegeta watched as his ally walked over to Raditz, processing the words given to him. "Alright Trunks, we're going in. We'll see you all tomorrow." He then follows Trunks inside the chamber, Mr. Popo shutting the door behind them.

"So dad," said Gohan, not having much time to really talk throughout this entire thing. "what exactly is the downside to training in there? You were barely able to last a month in there, right? How come?"

Goku started to sweat as he remembered his experience in there. "Well, to put it simply, the environment in there's incredibly hard to deal with. It's incredibly hot, the air's thin, and the gravity's several times heavier than Earth's. Not to mention a completely white void that looks like it goes on forever."

Chills ran down Raditz's spine as he tries to imagine his brother as a kid inside a place like that. "So, what's your plan exactly? You brought Gohan here so I'd imagine your plan is to get him Super Saiyan to increase our chances against the androids?"

Goku looked at his son and smiled, pressing his hand though his son's hair. "Something like that I suppose."

"Well, I don't know about you 3, but I'm not planning to stand around waiting for my turn." He reaches into his armor and pulls out a capsule. Clicking it and tossing it into the air, it pops open to take the form of his ship. "If any of you want to join me, you're free to do so."

"How about it dad?" asked Gohan, looking at Goku. "Think I could do with some gravity training before we go in there?"

Goku shook his head, surprising the others. "If we all started to train together with everything going on, the androids or Cell could get suspicious."

"Good call Kakarot, best to keep it to a minimum. Sorry Raditz, looks like you'll be training by yourself." said Nappa, giving a thumbs up to the saiyan.

Raditz sighed as he was forced to train by himself, flying up to his ship as it was pointless to say anything else. _If only Nion were old enough to start her training._

Almost an entire day passes after that moment. Goku and Gohan have been sitting outside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber's door the entire time while Nappa sat at the edge of the lookout, trying to create a mental image in his mind of what Raditz has been doing whenever he feels the saiyan's energy go wild from training. Raditz hadn't slept even a wink, rotating between training in immense gravity and healing in the pods, spending less and less time healing each time as he was becoming impatient of his own weakness.

Piccolo was currently watching the news in Kame House while the others slept, growling in frustration whenever Cell showed up on the news. "Damnit Cell, just how many people are you going to absorb before you're satisfied?!"

Nion, who was already awake despite the namekian's protests, opened the door to go outside. She stopped as what she saw out there confused her. "Mr. Green? There are people outside that I don't know."

"A kid huh? She looks kind of like that guy who was smart enough to not fight us."

Piccolo stiffened as he ran over to the window, starting to sweat as he saw all 3 of the androids right outside the window.

The androids immediately took notice of Piccolo and 17 smiled. "Hey there, is Goku here?"

Piccolo growled as things weren't looking good. "Nion, get away from the door, right now!"

Nion gasped as the namekian warned her to move away from the door, taking one more look at the androids before running back inside. Despite looking as emotionless as ever, Android 17 was a little upset that the kid just ran away.

Android 16 stared up at the house and frowned, more than usual anyway. "My readings are saying that Son Goku isn't here."

Piccolo turned to everyone else sleeping on the floor. "All of you, get up! We've got company that needs dealt with." He then stepped out of the house while everyone else woke up, quickly running out behind him. "Leave here, Son Goku isn't here so there's no point in staying."

"Well, I wouldn't say that." said 17, putting his hands to his hips. "Since I'm in a relatively good mood, I'll give you 2 options. You can either tell us where Goku is or you could bring his brother out. I've been curious if he puts up as much of a fight as the others saiyans. He is here, isn't he? That kid looked just a lot like him so I can only assume it's his."

Yamcha and Krillin looked a bit surprised that they'd want Raditz as a secondary target despite having no reason to go after him. Piccolo crossed his arms as he stared down the punk android. "Sorry, but Raditz isn't here either. And even if I knew where either of them were, do you really think we would tell you?"

"Actually yes. If you didn't comply, I would be forced to beat the information out of you. And I really don't want to do that in front of a kid." said 17, noticing Nion poking her head through the window.

"If you're worried about that, then let's just change locations." said Piccolo, pointing across the ocean. "There's an uninhabited island over there that'll we could let loose."

Android 17 sighed as he put his hands to his hips. "Sure, that works for me. Though I might have knocked you into the ground too hard if you didn't learn from last time."

Piccolo then turned to the others. "The rest of you stay here. There's no chance of you being any help out there." The namekian then started to rise into the air and flew off in the direction of the island, the androids following close behind.

Nion watched from the window as Piccolo and the androids started to fly away. Her tail was twitching a little as she was getting a very bad feeling about what's going to happen. _Please come home daddy. I'm scared._

* * *

 **I am so sorry that this chapter is a couple days late. I have nobody to blame but myself this time around. I was just having a lazy week and wasn't keeping up with my usual quota. Now that excuses are out of the way, let's briefly talk about the chapter. I think I'm getting a little too obsessed with writing for Nion, it's a good way to reduce the tension of the situation while getting a little insight on the situation through the eyes of a child with no sense of fighting yet. Another thing I wanted to touch on was having Raditz completely vaporize the city. For a while, it's bothered my why Piccolo never thought to do it in the canon. He did it in the first city, why not repeat the process if it meant reducing any place Cell could hide to ash. Also skipped over the conversation between Raditz and Bulma since I didn't know how to write the dialogue for that scene without really spoiling any plans I have. That's about all I have for this chapter, tune in next time for the next fight packed chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	28. A fierce duel Android 17 vs Piccolo

Piccolo landed on the island and started taking off his weighted clothing before the androids even touched down on the island. Android 17 stepped forward as he started to roll his sleeves down while Android 18 sitting on a large rock, Android 16 looking around to examine the environment around him.

"Just so we're clear, if you don't tell me where we can find Son Goku, I will kill you." said Android 17 as he finished rolling his sleeves down.

"I'm fine with that. That is, if you're even capable of killing me that is." said Piccolo as he dropped his turban to the ground.

Android 17 chuckled at Piccolo's response. "Interesting response considering last time. I'm wondering if you're just planning to stall for time or have some other idiotic objective." Seeing that the namekian simply chuckled in response, he took another step forward and held his arms out. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. Just come at me."

Piccolo perked his head up as he noticed Android 18 still sitting on the rock and 16 just standing around while Android 17 was the only one standing before him. "Wait, you're the only one who's going to fight?"

"Of course. I'm far more than enough to take you on myself." Android 17 smirked as he simply stood there confidently, not even bothering to get into an offensive or defensive stance.

Piccolo grinned as he stared down the overconfident android. _This is more than perfect. If it's a simple one-on-one fight, then I'm positive I can deal with at least one of them. Regardless of what happens to me afterwards, if I can take destroy just one of these androids, that's all the matters as it means stopping Cell from reaching his perfect form._ He knelt down and started emanating an extraordinary amount of power, crumbling the ground underneath him and pushing trees over from the sheer force of energy coming off the namekian.

As Android 17 just stood confidently while staring at the namekian, unable to sense the power coming off Piccolo, 16's attention immediately switched over to look at the alien, his usually blank expression showing a hint of worry. "17, that one's power is not the same as it was before!"

17 turned his head to look at his fellow android, shocked not only by what 16 said, but that the android showed interest in the fight. "What did you say?!"

The moment that the android's attention turned away from him, Piccolo lunged forward, flying past 17 while swinging his elbow backwards against the back of the android's skull, knocking the punk forward. He slammed his foot into the ground to stop his momentum and immediately pushed off the ground with that same foot, launching him over to where 17 was still falling forward. He slammed his foot against 17's face and knocked the android to the ground with a hard crash. As 18 quietly remarked how impressed she was with Piccolo's performance thus far, the namekian himself aimed his open palm at the android struggling to pull himself up. "Explosive Demon Wave!" He unleashed a widespread blast of energy in 17's directions, creating a deep crater bigger than he even meant to make. He noticed that the android's body was nowhere to be found so he looked around, being safe enough to not assume that the android had been wiped out that easily. He found 17 up in the air, the bottom of his jeans scorched, indicating the android had taken some of the blast when trying to dodge out of it. _Not bad for a punk like him. Maybe I'll take a page out of Raditz's book and try out something new._ He helds his arms outwards with his palms facing the sky as he started collecting energy in his hands.

Meanwhile on the lookout, Goku, Gohan and Nappa were all sitting outside waiting for Vegeta and Trunks to come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Each of them looked to each other when the could feel the tremendous amount of power coming from what could only be Piccolo. "That can't be good." said Nappa, who's been sitting on the edge of the lookout for the last few hours.

"So Piccolo's started fighting huh?" though aloud Goku, knowing that can't be a good sign regardless who he's fighting.

"You don't think it's Cell, do you?" asked Gohan, trying his best to keep himself calm.

Goku shook his head as he stared at the direction Piccolo's energy was. "I can't sense any energy energy from who he's fighting, it has to be the androids."

Gohan partially snapped and started running for the edge of the lookout as he was told it was the androids going against Piccolo, only refraining from totally snapping since he doesn't know just how strong these androids were since he'd never encountered them before. "No, we have to save him!"

"Gohan, no! There's nothing we can do right now! As things are right now, they're too much for any of us to handle! If we go now, we'll only get in Piccolo's way!" shouted Goku, though his son didn't seem to care as he just kept running.

Nappa swung his hand sideways, creating a solid wall of energy in front of Gohan, stopping the halfling in his tracks. "Listen to your old man, kid. Even as a Super Saiyan, I was powerless against their combined power and last I checked, you aren't even able to become a Super Saiyan." He climbed to his feet and walked over to the wall, dispersing it so he could look Gohan dead in the eyes. "I don't think you have to worry about it though. Those androids seem to honor a one-on-one fight, so I'm sure the namekian will be fine on his own." He put his hand on Gohan's shoulder for a moment before walking past the runt and moving over to Goku.

"Nappa's right." said Goku, noticing his son starting to calm down, though only slightly. "Besides, Trunks and Vegeta are gonna come out that door at any moment more than powerful enough to take on the androids. Also, have a little faith in Piccolo. He's an incredibly strong fighter and he's grown even more powerful since he fused with Kami." He saw Gohan start to calm down even more, letting out a sigh as things were pretty stressful. He turned to look at Nappa, who gave the saiyan a thumbs up. His gaze then turned to the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. _Come on Vegeta, what're you waiting for? Was it impossible to go beyond Super Saiyan after all?_

High above the lookout, Raditz's ship hovered in place as he tried to focus on his training. The doorway to the gravity chamber opened up as Raditz nearly collapsed out of it, his body covered in sweat and bruises, breathing heavily as he was constantly pushing his body too far. He pressed his hand to his chest, not sure how many of his ribs he'd broken this time but it made moving just that much more painful. He started levitating himself off the ground to avoid unnecessary movement, making his way to the nearest healing station. As he was out of the harsh gravity, his senses were becoming more clear as he could feel Piccolo's unleashed power, his face turning pale. _No no no, this can't be happening. 24 hours haven't even passed yet and he's already fighting the androids?!_ "Damnit, why am I so useless?!" He slammed his hand against the wall, creating a deep dent as well as putting himself through great pain. "Just you wait androids and Cell. The next time we meet, I won't be the same weakling I was anymore!" He then coughed up some blood, his body in too bad a condition to be screaming. He made his way to the healing pod, climbed inside of it, and closed his eyes as he just let the healing process happen. _Just you wait.._

Piccolo started firing a barrage of energy spheres the android, missing most of them but aiming enough at the android to keep him occupied. By the time 17 finally caught on, he was already surrounded by the spheres around him, no gaps to escape in sight. Piccolo grinned as he noticed a slightly worried expression on the punk kid's face. "Nowhere left to run now. Now it's time for you to die! Hellzone Grenade!" He swung his arms towards each other, the minefield of energy honing in on Android 17, resulting in large explosion that completely wiped out the island they were fighting on. Even at Kame House, the explosion could be seen and the wind pressure caused by it could be felt. As the smoke began to settle, Piccolo was shocked to see that 17 had survived the attack by using a barrier that was cracked from blocking the attack.

Android 17 dispersed the barrier and put his hands on his hips. "That was a close one, you almost had me worried there. I've never met anyone that could actually damage my barrier."

Piccolo made a grunt of annoyance at the android's attitude despite the overwhelming display he'd just put on. "I'll do more than that the next time you try that, seeing that I've just been warming up this whole time."

"Pretty bold words coming from you." He pointed his thumb to the side. "Since you wiped out our little fighting arena, we'll have to move locations to another island. Honestly, you should treat nature a little better." He nudged his head to the side for his fellow androids to follow as he and Piccolo started flying to a new island.

At that same time, Cell was just inside an office building holding onto the leg of a person he was just about to absorb when he sensed the tremendous amount of energy being created from Piccolo. _That power, there's no doubt in my mind that it's coming from the being of Piccolo and Kami combined, but who could he be using it against? It can't be Raditz, I sensed his energy on the other side of the planet just a moment ago and I've yet to sense any of the other other saiyans for quite a while. Now that I think about it, I can't sense any energy around him which means.._ Cell immediately leg of the man's leg and started cackling. "Of course! He's up against Androids 17 and 18! At last, I have finally found them! Wait for me, soon we shall become the perfect being!" He blasted a hole in the wall of the building he was in and started flying to where Piccolo was.

Piccolo and the androids landed on a new island not very far from where they were fighting originally. 17 wiped his lip and noticed some blood on it, beginning to chuckle as his gaze went to Piccolo. "I must say, you're unbelievably powerful for someone who isn't an android. I would have thought the only one capable of giving me this much of a challenge would be Goku. You've truly proven that you're not the same namekian that went down easy last time. But as impressive as you may be, I really couldn't care less about you. All I want to know is where Goku is, so are you going to continue this pointless fight or tell me where to find him?"

"Why would I tell you? All you plan to do is kill Son Goku the moment you find him. I don't plan to tell you regardless how long this fight takes." He got into his fighting stance. _He's more difficult to kill than I could have imagined. Even if I can't kill him, the longer I can stall this fight out, at least 2 of the saiyans will emerge from the Time Chamber any minute._

"Fine. If that's how it's gonna be, I won't complain about getting to knock you down. Just try not to die too quickly." 17 leapt into the air and landed in front of the namekian, immediately getting into a fighting pose.

Piccolo was pretty surprised by the androids bold approach. They both stood there staring at each other with great intensity before 17 made the first move, leaping forward with an open palm aimed at Piccolo's chin. The namekian was nearly caught off guard, managing to block with his arm but was still pushed back from the force of the strike. He growled and retaliated with a slash of his arm, 17 ducking under the attack but some of his hair and his neckerchief was torn off. Seeing his signature orange neckerchief fall to the ground, 17 scowled and struck Piccolo in the stomach with nearly enough force to pierce the skin. As the namekian started collapsing from the pain, the android slammed his elbow against the back of Piccolo's skull, creating a crater under Piccolo's body. Android 17 was surprised to see how quickly Piccolo started to get back up. He went for a side kick but Piccolo managed to do a backflip to avoid the attack, then doing an unnecessary number of backflips to gain some distance between the two of them. The namekian then popped his neck and wiped some blood off his chin. "Your a fast little bug, but that's all you are. There wasn't any sort of power in those attacks."

17 looked astonished for a moment about that accusation from the namekian. He smirked and picked up his damaged neckerchief, wrapping it around his arm. "You're a lot more delusional that I thought if you dare say that to me, the strongest in all of history."

While the fight between Piccolo and Android 17 continued, Cell continued on his way to reach the his destination. Piccolo was far too focused on the fight to notice it, but the crew at Roshi's place and Kami's Lookout were all able to notice the approach of Cell.

"There's no way. Why now of all time?!" shouted Krillin, who was the first at Kame House to notice the approach of Cell.

"Cell's really on his way there? This can't be!" said Tien, who was in disbelief that they hadn't been able to find the monster for the past few days and only now decided to reveal himself.

Chi-Chi burst forth from inside the house holding the phone. "Krillin! Bulma's on the phone and she says she might have learned the weakness of the androids!"

Everyone immediately turned to look at Chi-Chi, shocked to learn that their friend might have just rescued them at a good time. Krillin grabbed the phone and put it on speaker. "Bulma, is it true that you managed to find a weakness?"

"You're damn right I did." said Bulma, sounding unnaturally proud of herself. "According to the blueprints, at least 17 has a remote shutdown function installed inside them, so the same should apply to 18 judging by the threat they both pose. Lucky for you guys, I just finished working on a remote that can trigger that function. Once you do that, shutting them down should be easy."

Krillin looked to both Tien and Yamcha and nodded. "Bulma, I hate to rush you but you need to get here as fast as possible. Piccolo's already fighting the androids and we're unable to help him without that remote."

"Sure thing, I'll be right over. And be sure to let Raditz know that he and I will be having a strict conversation." The phone then cut off as Bulma had hung up.

"Yeesh, I don't want to be anywhere near her when she finds out that Raditz isn't here." said Yamcha, crossing his arms as he started to sweat.

"That's great! If we can use that remote to shut them both down, Cell won't be able to reach his perfect form when they're destroyed!" shouted Tien, sounding a bit too enthusiastic for the situation.

Krillin stared at the remote with a pained look on his face. "Destroy them huh?"

Nion had been listening from the living room window and backed up, a rather scared look on her face. She turned around to look at her mom, who was in her blonde personality, and walked over to Launch. "Mommy, is someone going to have to die today?"

Launch, who had been polishing her gun, froze up and turned pale as she had heard her daughter ask such a dreadful question. "I-I don't know sweety. Things have gotten pretty scary lately, but I'm sure your dad will make sure to protect all of us."

Nion gave a brief smile before turning her head to the floor, her smile fading. She looked out the window and looked a bit scared again. _But can Daddy protect himself?_

Meanwhile, at the Lookout, the saiyans had picked up on Cell's approach. "Dad, that energy! It's Cell, he's heading towards Mr. Piccolo and the androids!" shouted Gohan.

"Yeah, I know. But there's nothing that we can do right now." said Goku, groaning as things were getting worse and worse while Vegeta and Trunks weren't coming out of the Time Chamber. His senses shot up as he sensed a surge of energy behind him, urging him to look.

Nappa was standing at the edge of the Lookout, transformed into a Super Saiyan. Energy began to surround his hand as he simply stared down at the Earth, as if trying to figure something out.

"Nappa, what are you doing? There's no way you can fire a blast halfway across the planet and hit Cell." said Goku, a bit worried what the saiyan brute might be up to.

"Don't need to fire a blast across the planet. Just need to know where to aim my attack!" shouted Nappa, swinging his arm upwards.

As Cell was flying across the ocean, a pillar of energy shot out from the water and stopped the android in his tracks. He noticed a massive energy a long distance away. "That energy, there's no doubt that it's a Super Saiyan but it feels a lot different from Raditz. That must mean it's Nappa, but how could he perform such a technique from a long distance? It doesn't matter I suppose, it won't mean anything to me once I reach my perfection." Without another word, he resumed flying to Piccolo's location.

During their fight, both 17 and Piccolo stopped fighting as they noticed the massive spire of heat energy in the distance. "Wow, quite the impressive feat of nature." said 17 before getting back into his battle stance facing Piccolo.

Piccolo on the other hand was quivering as he finally noticed the fact that Cell was closing in on them from the direction of the pillar. "This is bad. You androids need to leave right now!"

Each of the androids turn their head to the namekian, 17 mostly surprised that his opponent is telling him to run. "What's the matter, finally realizing how outmatched you are?"

"There's a monster named Cell after you and he plans to absorb both you and Android 18!" shouted Piccolo, gathering energy into his hands in preparation for Cell.

Hearing the mention of Cell completely got the attention of 16, his eyes narrowing as he stares into the distance, seeing android in question coming their way at great speed. Meanwhile, 17 wasn't believing any of it. "Yeah right, as if I'll believe something ridiculous like that."

"17, we need to go." declared 16, being the one to surprise everyone this time. "Killing Son Goku may be our objective, but making sure Cell cannot absorb the both of you should become our priority!"

"Hold on, you actually know what he's talking about?" asked 18. 16 pointed to where he saw Cell and 18 looked a little surprised. "17, perhaps we should listen to them."

"Hmph, I don't care who shows up, I refuse to run away." Android 17 just stood there, watching as Cell moved closer.

"18, I suggest you get behind me." said 16, the female android getting behind the larger android.

Piccolo continued to have a large buildup of energy at the ready, staring down Cell as the android finally landed. "You couldn't resist coming back to find me, could you?"

Cell started to chuckle, scanning the area to see Android 17 and 16, surprised to see the larger android but didn't pay any mind to him. He couldn't see Android 18 anywhere but knew she couldn't be far, so he just turned his attention back to Piccolo. "I thank you Piccolo. You've just handed the key to my perfection to me on a silver platter. And now, I think I'll pay you back for that humiliating defeat a few days ago."

* * *

 **And cliffhanger. I know this wasn't my best chapter, was a bad place to end things off AND was late, but I really wanted to give something to you guys even during my emotional slump. No reason to make you guys suffer for my personal issues. I know it's pretty boring that I'm not changing any of the canon as of late, but there's not a whole lot I can do with all the saiyans out of the way. I figured I might as well throw a bone at the end with that little Nappa trick but don't expect me to write that again. We're nearing Semi-Perfect Cell which is when I plan to go a little crazy with the story, so look forward to that. That's all for this time, tune in next time for another chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**

 **P.S. I'll try to fix my funk and upload schedule next time.**


	29. The struggle to fight back

"So that's the thing you said was going to 'absorb us'?" asked 17, slightly believing Piccolo in 16 as he stares down the monster, but still doesn't have any reason to believe he should run. "Doesn't look that intimidating."

Cell jumped down from the cliff and turned his head to look at 17. "Not intimidating huh? I guess the computer was right, you really can't sense energy. Allow me to demonstrate what you're looking at." He clenched his fists and started shouting as he began to unleash his new power, the results shocking Piccolo almost to the point of the namekian releasing all the energy he'd already build up. The eruption of power caused the cliff he was standing on earlier to crumble to pieces, an aura akin to a Super Saiyan's surrounding him. "Intimidating enough for you?" He started to walk past Piccolo. "It's your move Piccolo, what will you do?"

Piccolo grit his teeth as he turned around to face Cell. "You really absorbed that many people just to power yourself up to get revenge on me?" He continued to gather energy in his hands as he watches Cell continued walking.

"That was my main reason, yes. However, after seeing the results of your battle with 17, I can safely say that it was necessary in order to absorb 17 and 18." He took a few more step forward before looking at 16 and 17. "Now, where is Android 18?"

Android 17 already got into a battle stance as he knew to expect a fight from this thing that Piccolo and 16 called Cell. "As if we're going to tell you. I don't know who you are 'Cell', but you best get out of here before I tear you apart."

Everyone at Roshi's place that was able to sense energy were all in a complete panic. "Is that.. Really Cell?" asked Krillin, knowing the answer already and that nobody needed to answer.

"Guess there's no getting around it. We really are just useless out here." said Tien, his body shaking in anger as he couldn't do anything to help.

"Come on guys, there's got to be something we can do, right?" asked Yamcha, looking in the direction of the island as he felt the urge to just rush out there to help Piccolo, regardless if it was going to be of any use.

"Calm down, there's nothing we can do. Until Bulma gets here with the remote, we all just have to hope that Piccolo is capable to handle this on his own." said Roshi, on the verge of crushing the beer can in his hand.

"That's it, Bulma!" shouted Krillin. "If I fly to her as fast as I can, I'll get there faster than it would take for her to get to here and then fly to the androids!" Without another word, he charged up and flew in the direction of West City, believing Bulma would take a direct path to them.

Watching Krillin take action pushed Tien over the edge, powering up his energy in preparation to fly. "I'm going to help Piccolo stall for time, even if it's only a little!" He then flew off without another word, just like Krillin.

Roshi noticed Yamcha preparing to take off too and quickly grabbed onto the young man's arm. "Don't even think about it! I know you want to help, but there's no point in everyone being in danger."

Yamcha yanked his arm free from Master Roshi's grip. "Sorry Master Roshi, but I can't be the only one who just sits on the sidelines while everyone else is risking their lives! I refuse to be useless anymore!" He turned back in the direction of the island and flew off behind Tien.

Master Roshi just stood their in complete disbelief as everyone else had completely abandoned them. It wasn't the fact that He was the only capable fighter left on the island to protect the few of them left there, but the fact that there was a high chance that someone was going to die if they get that close to the fighting.

Cell just stared down 17 as the android was prepared to put up a fight. It slightly frustrated him that the android was already aware to be on guard, meaning that the task of absorbing the android would be more work than he'd planned on. He already knew what was necessary for the androids so he figured he'd give it a shot, rising his tail up for the perfect position to lunge at the android.

Noticing Cell's tail starting to move, Piccolo wasted no time in launching a devastating Masenko attack at the android. Cell quickly realizing what the namekian had done instead uses his tail to swat away the energy blast, his focus on that maneuver almost leaving him open to an attack from Android 17. Cell catches an incoming fist from 17 and punches the android in the stomach before slamming him to the ground on his back. He sensed Piccolo quickly approaching and tried to stab the namekian with his tail, only managing to graze Piccolo's side as the warrior caught the tail tip in his arm.

Cell found it annoying that he couldn't pull his tail free from the namekian's grip, yet he still found a little amusement. "Did you really think that I would possess that weakness simply because I have the cells of Saiyans inside me?"

Piccolo grunted as he was struggling to keep Cell's tail in check. Even so, he couldn't help but smirk as his plan was looking good to work. "No, but it does help that you're just as cocky as a certain saiyan that I know. 17, raise that barrier of yours!" He watched as Cell looked a little surprised that Piccolo might be working together. As soon as 17 raised up his barrier, Piccolo begins to roar as he unleashes an Explosive Demon Wave, creating a widespread explosion that completely levels half the island.

After the attack dissipates, Cell manages to pull free from Piccolo's grasp and moves away, showing wounds from the point-blank blast, though he starts taking a moment to regenerate them. "A bold attempt Piccolo, but you already know how ultimately useless an attempt it is. As long as your cells are inside me, you have no chance at landing a killing blow upon me."

Piccolo began to pant as he was a little exhausted from performing that attack with all the energy that he'd been building up. "Maybe not, but the longer I keep you preoccupied, the greater the chances your death will be inevitable."

17 managed to pick himself off the ground and kept his eyes on Cell, noticing Cell's wounds slowly regenerating. "This guy can regenerate? Talk about a buzzkill. Hey, Piccolo was it? Any tips on how to deal with this freak?"

"Not really, he's too powerful even for me. If you want to live to see tomorrow, I recommend you avoid getting anywhere near his tail. And don't bother trying to remove it, he can just regrow it back." said Piccolo, catching his breath as he gets back into his fighting stance.

Cell began to chuckle as he began to cross his arms. "Don't go getting his hopes up Piccolo. After all, nobody will be alive to witness tomorrow once I achieve my perfection."

Using his telepathy, Piccolo began to talk directly to 17 without warning Cell of his upcoming plan. _Hey, I have to ask. That barrier of yours, are you only able to project it around yourself?_

17 looked quite shocked to be hearing the namekian's voice inside his head, but adapted quickly to it. _Now that's an interesting idea you have there. I've never really tried it but I think it could be possible. What did you have in mind?_

 _I need you to project it around Cell and try to keep him busy stationary for as long as possible. Buy me as much time as you possibly can._ He then brought his hands together and started charging up energy between them.

Cell realizing Piccolo beginning to charge up another attack raised his hand and pointed a finger at the namekian. He fired a Death Beam attack at the namekian but was surprised to see that it didn't land, but instead hit a barrier that surrounded the namekian.

Piccolo widened his eyes as he saw 17's barrier projected around him rather than Cell. "What are you doing?! I told you to put that barrier around him!"

"Do you really think that'd work against him? You said he wants me, this just means he has no reason to go after you." 17 then held his hand out and started rapid firing energy at Cell, doing nothing but irritating the android. "Come on Cell, if you want your perfection as badly as you say, stop wasting time on him and worry about me. After all, 18's long gone by now."

That definitely struck a nerve to Cell. Without any warning, the android from the future rushed at 17 and slammed his fist into the male android's stomach, launching him into a cliff wall. He then aimed his open palm at 17 and fired a barrage of energy blasts that dug the android further and further into the cliff, creating a cave that made it increasingly difficult for 17 to escape from. Starting to walk forward to the cave, Cell stuck his tail out and the piercing point at the end opened up like an umbrella, large enough to completely envelop 17 whole. "That may be true, but even with only one of you, I'll still be more than enough to defeat anyone I wish. Then it's only a matter of time before I find her." Cell then felt something grab onto his tail from behind. He knew it couldn't be Piccolo since he couldn't sense any energy directly behind him so he turned his head to look.

Android 16 smirked as Cell looked at him, just before rearing his arm back and slamming it against Cell's cheek, knocking him away from the cave 17 was in. "If you want achieve your perfection, you're going to have to get through me first."

18 on the other hand was hiding on a cliff behind Yamcha and Tien, who had arrived a short time ago but hadn't gotten involved since they'd just get in the way. "So, what are the chances you think those 3 can take on Cell?" asked the female android, genuinely worried.

"As much as I want to say they can do this, there's no guarantee that they can take him down. At the very least, we just have to wait for one of the saiyans to get here to take him down." said Tien, watching intently as Piccolo was continuously pouring energy into that attack while 17 was barely able to stay on his feet.

Cell stood back up and wiped his cheek. "Yet another who wishes to die in a useless struggle. What a shame, you'll die without myself having even learned your name."

17 stumbled out of the cave, holding tightly onto his left arm as he'd lost feeling in it during those blasts. "16, what are you doing? If you get involved in this fight, you'll just end up dead."

"I can no longer just sit back and watch you two put up a struggle that won't produce any long lasting results. Besides, according to my calculations, Cell and I are roughly equal in power." 16 then launched himself towards a quickly approaching Cell, both slamming their head against each other.

Noticing that he wasn't able to budge 16 through sheer force, Cell reared his arm back and struck it upwards against the android's jaw, forcing him to rear backward. Cell then took this opportunity to pierce his tail inside of 16's neck, planning to absorb him. The moment he saw the android smirk, he quickly realized his mistake. "Damn you, you let me impale you on purpose!"

16 gripped tightly on the tip of Cell's tail, pulling it out of his neck. He then grabbed onto it with his other arm and threw Cell over his tail, knocking the future android against the ground. Wrapping his arm around the tail tightly to make sure it couldn't go anywhere, he then slammed his foot down on the lower part of Cell's tail, more securing Cell couldn't escape. Having overheard Piccolo's advice earlier, he knew better than to attempt to rip off the tail. He put his free under his other arm's pit and gripped onto the free arm. He yanked his free arm back, detaching his forearm to reveal inner mechanisms, aiming those mechanisms directly at Cell. "Hell's Flash!"

Cell watched in horror as this mechanical android fired a burst of energy that completely consumed his body. In his only option for escape, he struggled to aim his hand directly at his own tail and fired a Death Beam to sever his own tail. Once he was free from 16's grip, he immediately pulled himself out of the blast range of the android's devastating attack. He stood back onto his feet and began to breathe heavily, the android far stronger than he'd anticipated. He was given very little time to rest when he saw 16 detach the forearm of his other arm, aiming the mechanisms of both his arm at the bio-android. Not only that, but he also sensed Piccolo's energy directly behind him.

"Now Cell, it's time to die!" Piccolo pressed both his wrists together and aimed his palms at Cell. "Light Grenade!" He fired a rather small ball of energy at Cell's back simultaneously as 16 fired another Hell's Flash. The moment both attack collided, the resulting collision forced the energy upwards, creating a spire of pure energy that could be seen for miles. It was impossible to sense any energy with this pillar of energy resonating so much of it.

Cell used this opportunity to burrow his way underground, giving the time to regenerate his wounds as well as begin charging up a Special Beam Cannon. _There's no way I can absorb 17 or 18 with those pests in the way. Not to mention I don't have much energy left after this. I have no choice but to absorb Piccolo to replenish my energy. Lucky for me, he must be utterly exhausted by now._

By the time everyone noticed Cell was no longer within the spire of energy, it had been too late. Cell burst out of the ground and fired the Special Beam Cannon at Android 16. The beam pierced through the upper-left chest of the android's metal frame. The android dropped to one knee and grunted, pressing his hand to the wound. "Damn, that was too close to the bomb. I must prioritize stabilizing my systems." He glared at Cell as he watched the bio-android start making his way to Piccolo.

Tien and Yamcha, knowing they have no other choice but to take action now, flew into the air. Yamcha created a Power Ball and placed it right in front of Tien. Tien formed a triangle with his hands and fired a Tri-Beam directly at Cell, not only forcing Cell into the ground, but launching Yamcha's power ball directly into the bio-android. Android 18 watched in amazement as these 2 earthlings, who she and her brother had effortlessly taken down, were doing whatever they could to stop Cell. Yamcha and Tien continued this attack several times again and again until Tien was far too drained of energy to fire another Tri-beam. The three-eyed human collapsed to the ground as he barely had the strength to move, leaving Yamcha as the only capable fighter present at the moment.

Yamcha watches in horror as even after that bombardment of attacks, Cell simply climbed out of the hole that they drove him into. The bio-android looked directly at Yamcha before turning his head and walking over to Piccolo, regrowing his tail in preparation to absorb the namekian. Yamcha grit his teeth as he knew he had no other option, flying down to where Piccolo was at full speed and knocked the namekian out of the way with a Power Ball.

Tien, forcing himself up to see what exactly was going on, widened all 3 of his eyes as he saw his friend flying down to Cell. "Yamcha, no!"

Cell, sensing Yamcha closing in, quickly turned around, grabbing the human by the head and slamming him into the ground. "How unfortunate. I suppose it doesn't matter who I absorb so long as they grant me power." He prepared the stinger of his tail to impale Yamcha.

Yamcha turned his head, looking directly at Android 17 who was watching in horror. "Run 17! Get out of here now!" He was then immediately silenced the moment Cell pierced into his back. In mere moments, there was nothing left of Yamcha other than his Gi.

* * *

 **And that is the end of the most chaotic chapter I've ever written. It was incredibly difficult for me to write this chapter between my personal stuff, writer's block and just the chaos of trying to plan this out. This is likely the biggest split from the canon this story is going to get. I wanted to make this chapter go all the way to Cell absorbing 17, but I just didn't have the spirit to go that far. This chapter's already late so I figured I'd at least give you this much. This is a chapter I really do want to know your reaction and feedback on since I took some serious risks in this one that you're free to judge me on. That's all from me. Tune in next time for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	30. Cell's ascendance An Android fallen

Tien watched in horror as one of his closest friends completely disappeared in a matter, too weak to even move to stop it. "Yamcha!"

Krillin, on his way to meet up with Bulma, felt the sudden disappearance of Yamcha's energy and closed his eyes tightly. "Yamcha.."

Goku, Gohan and Nappa were all frozen as they were aware of the disappearance of Yamcha's energy. Gohan looked like he was in the midst of a breakdown of anger, Nappa was already furious that there was too little that he could do to help. Goku was the most level-headed despite how frustrated he felt about the situation. "I'm sorry Yamcha."

Raditz's eyes shot open as he felt what everyone else did. He forced his way out of the healing tank, busting off the hatch of the machine and jumped out, the healing fluid splashing across the floor. "Damn you Cell, you chose the worst time to piss me off even further! Screw waiting, I'm coming for you!" He ran for the control room and climbed into his chair, flying off for where he could sense that bastard, Cell's, energy.

Piccolo growled as he stared at Cell. There was very little he could do since he used up the last of his energy in that last blast. He managed to get to his feet and assume his fighting stance, albeit unsteadily due to him being so weakened. "Come on Cell, this fight isn't over yet!" _Just a little bit longer. If I can just stall him a little bit longer, the others will finally exit from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and should be more than powerful enough to take on Cell._

Cell took a quick glance at Piccolo and smirked before looking forward at 17. "Oh but it is. It's plain as day that you lack the energy to put up a fight anymore and 16's too damaged to make a move. With those conditions met, anyone capable of stopping me is no longer able to keep me from reaching my perfection."

"You're forgetting one important detail." said 17, having one hand behind his back constantly building up energy in preparation for one final, desperate attack. "You claim to need both me and my sister to reach your perfection, and she's been gone since before you even showed up."

"And you seem to have forgotten one basic fact. The mightest warriors of this planet are all gathered right here and I've reduced them to uselessness. Even absorbing just one of you will make me unstoppable. After that, it'll be very simple to take my time to hunt her down." Cell began to walk forward, forcing 17 to walk backwards to the edge of the island. "Besides, judging by the data I have on the both of you, you're similar enough in personality for me to assume she's not that far away considering you're still here."

"Then I guess you leave me with no other option." _Sorry 16, 18, I don't see any other way out of this._ He brings up his barrier around himself and brought his hand to his chest. Cell quickly realized what the android was up to and pierced the sharp part of his tail into the barrier, trying to break it open enough to let his whole tail through and absorb the android before he can blow himself up.

"Cell you bastard, die!"

Everyone froze for a moment when they heard the voice and looked to where the it came from. It was directly above Cell and the bio-android was too late to dodge an incoming energy blast from the sky, landing directly on his head and plunging him face-first into the ground. Raditz, already in his Super Saiyan form, appeared quickly after and kicked Cell away from Android 17.

"Raditz?! What are you doing here, you're supposed to be finding a way to preparing to destroy Cell!" shouted Piccolo.

"There's no time for that! Grab Tien and get the hell out of here!" The saiyan then turned around and glared at the android. "You need to get out of here as well! It's you he wants after all." He sharply turned his head as he heard Cell get back onto his feet.

Cell clenched his fists with anger, his perfection so close yet everything seems to get in the way whenever he's a step away from reaching it. "Raditz, I would lie and say it's a pleasant surprise to see you, but you it seems you're perfectly aware to why I'd be in a terribly bad mood."

A visible vein could now be seen on Raditz's forehead, the look on the saiyan's face to scare even Piccolo. "You're in a bad mood?! You just killed one of my friends!" His energy erupted, his aura enough to form a crater around him. "With every fiber of my being, I swear that I'll be the one to kill you! Double Sunday!" He fired two beams directly at the bio-android.

Cell retaliated and fired his own beams at the Double Sunday, resulting in a beam struggle. Cell was astonished that the saiyan was on even terms with him, his energy truly depleted from his earlier fight. "It's no use Raditz! I am an android engineered from the cells of the most powerful fighters every to appear on this planet, you stand no chance!"

"You forget one thing. I have intimate knowledge of all the fighters that are a part of you!" For a split second, his power suddenly amplified, pushing that new power into his beams, overpowering Cell's and sending his foe flying, causing a splash in the ocean. He stiffened as his energy back to normal, his entire body stinging in pain.

Piccolo noticed that pained look on Raditz's face bit knew he couldn't do anything to help, flying slowly to where Tien was currently lying and picking him up. "Damnit, is he really desperate enough to throw his life away just to buy some time?" Making sure Tien was safely perched on his back, he flew started flying away, primarily to Korin's Tower to get some senzu beans to restore the energy that Tien rapidly depleted his life force to unleash.

Cell erupted from the water and dashed right for the saiyan, who was still stunned from the pain. He launched his tail right for the saiyan, clearly aiming to replenish his power and add to it. Before making contact, Cell crashed against the spherical green barrier that Android 17 was getting the hang of projecting around others. Cell screamed in pure rage and slammed his fists against the barrier, slowly but surely cracking it.

Raditz jerked as he reestablished himself from the pain and didn't wait, rushing in as his yellow aura surrounded his right arm, howling in pain as he slammed it through the barrier and directly into Cell's chest, launching the bio-android backwards with enough speed to send him out of view within seconds. Grasping his arm in pain, he turned to look at Android 17. "What the hell are you doing?! I told you to get out of here!"

17 looked off in the distance, the wind starting to blow in, causing his hair and what was left of his tattered clothes to flow in the wind. "You guys seem to be doing whatever it takes to drag things out against him. I take it you're waiting for something?"

The saiyan took a deep breath and clenched his fist, forcing himself through the pain. "That's right. At any minute, Vegeta and Trunks are to make an appearance, stronger than ever before."

"Vegeta? After what happened last time, are you sure you're willing to put your faith in him to take something like this on?" 17 couldn't help but feel a little nervous about that little plan of theirs.

"I understand how you feel." Raditz walked forward, already building up energy in his hands as he waits for Cell to reappear. "But despite how much I hate him, he's a talented and powerful enough fighter for me to place all bets on him." _I just wish he'd hurry up._

Everyone on the Lookout was now overflowing with worry and anger when they were able to sense Raditz's energy down where Cell was fighting. Even Goku was on the verge of going down there to help his brother out. It was Mr. Popo's arrival from the back of the Lookout that finally calmed everyone down. "Everyone, Vegeta and Trunks have come out of the chamber!"

The saiyans didn't even hesitate to make their way over to the time chamber. 2 things they'd immediately notice about the emerging saiyans was that both of their clothing were torn up beyond belief, other than Trunks' jacket that somehow didn't have even a scratch on it, as well as Trunks being a bit taller with longer hair. "Sorry we took so long." said Trunks.A

"Are we glad to see you, a lot has happened since you went in." said Goku, wanting to explain everything but things were already looking quite bad.

"It didn't take long for dad to surpass the level of Super Saiyan he was before, but it took until a month ago to master control of it. After that we decided to spend our remaining time on increasing our strength." said Trunks, taking a deep breath as he was readjusting to the Earth's atmosphere.

"Trunks, do not waste your breath explaining to them what they could very well figure out for themselves." Vegeta looked around, noticing the lack of a saiyan. "Where did that clown Raditz go?"

"He's busy keeping Cell from absorbing the androids, waiting for you guys to take care of the bastard." answered Nappa. "Things have been pretty bad over the last hour."

"Yeah, I hate to ask you this, but I'd appreciate it if you'd go down and help my brother before he gets killed." said Goku.

Vegeta chuckled and crossed his arms as he started walking outside. "Very well, I'll save that idiotic fool, though I don't plan to let him hear the end of it." As he walked out, he looked at his own hand and smirked. "I'll crush Cell and those androids without any effort at all."

Everyone looked a bit stunned at Vegeta's cockiness despite what happened the last time he fought the Androids. As they stepped outside, they heard the voice of Bulma calling out to anyone. The first thing she noticed was Trunks' new height and grown out hair. "Trunks, what happened to your hair?"

"Oh this? Me and dad were just training in a weird magic room where a year goes by within the span of a day." Trunks looked a little awkward, especially seeing his infant self sleeping in Bulma's plane.

Bulma turned her head to Vegeta, noticing the saiyan prince's hair was exactly the same. "Then what about Vegeta? His hair is hasn't changed a bit."

Vegeta groaned, hating this idle chatter. "A pure blooded saiyan's hair doesn't grow anymore than it's maximum length and will return to it's natural length as quickly as possible." Everyone's head immediately turned to Nappa, who looked away nervously. Before anyone could question the saiyan elite, Vegeta spoke up. "We have no time to talk about such trivial things. Why are you even here?"

"Geez, I know it's been a while since we last talked but there's no need to act so harsh." She pulled out a capsule. "I brought extra sets of the armor you asked for. Even brought additional sets that match the type that Nappa and Raditz wear." She clicked on the capsule and tossed it to the ground, creating a container holding the mentioned armor.

Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Trunks changed into the the simple Vegeta-style armor while Nappa picked up a spare of his own armor, not needing to change yet since he hasn't been in any recent combat. "My Kakarot, that look suits you." After giving his rival the compliment, he began to walk over to the edge of the Lookout, taking a moment before locking in on Raditz's energy and flying in that direction.

During that same time, Raditz and 17 got sent flying backwards after taking a heavy blow from Cell. Their advantage over the bio-android had dwindled fast as they were running low on tricks to use against him. Raditz was mostly in pain for using his incomplete tactic and damaging his body greatly in exchange for very quick bursts of power. 17 was losing openings to create barriers in which to either defend themselves or imprison Cell. As the both of them got to their feet, Raditz felt his tail twitch as he felt a strong energy heading their way, a grin sliding onto his face. "Looks like we're saved after all. Leave now, I'll handle the rest while you escape."

"Are you crazy? We can barely keep up with him together, telling me to leave now would be suicide." retorted 17, turning his head to see Cell walking closer.

"Vegeta doesn't know you're basically on our side now and he'll likely kill you before he kills Cell." He held his right arm behind his back, his aura beginning to gather around it once more. "Besides, I just need to keep him from moving for a little bit. By using my trump card, I can guarantee that happening."

17 groaned, not liking this idea one bit, though knew it was probably the best opportunity they'd get. He flew over to where 16 was still trying to keep his body stabilized. "We need to get out of here right now. Where's 18?"

16 weakly turned his head in the direction he last saw Android 18. "I believe somewhere in that direction."

Raditz watched Cell slowly approaching and growled, the veins popping up on his head and all his muscles tensing up as he felt severe pain, the aura around his arm starting to gather to his hand. "It's time to end this Cell! Doo-" He was cut off as he felt a sharp pain shoot into his back, a Death Beam penetrating into his back but luckily not through his body. The energy in his hand dispersed as he collapsed to the ground, screaming as all the pain finally caught up to him, powering down from Super Saiyan.

From the shadow of a hole, another Cell climbed out, smoke coming from his finger as he had shot the Death Beam. "Poor Raditz. You claim to know the fighters in me so well and yet you didn't expect me to use Tien's Multiform technique." The other Cell that was just walking started laughing as it merged back into the other Cell.

17 watched in horror as Raditz was unable to move anymore as was on the verge of being absorbed by Cell. 16 quickly realized what 17 was thinking and grabbed his ally by the arm. "You can't. You'd just be giving Cell exactly what he wants."

"He told me that he's willing to put all his bets on Vegeta. And I already know that Raditz guy is smart. His life is worth keeping around more than my own." He grabbed onto 16's arm and tossed the fully-mechanical android in the direction his sister was. He then rushed directly at Cell. "Cell! I'm the one you want right?! Well I'm right here!"

Cell growled as his instincts were overtaking him, simply kicking Raditz away as his flew at 17, his tail expanding wide enough to engulf the android. "At last, my perfection is a step closer!"

Raditz tried to reach his arm out, futilely trying to save the android. The moment before 17 was absorbed, he could hear the android say one last thing, directed towards the saiyan.

"Take care of that kid of yours."

The next moment, 17 was completely gone, Cell's body beginning to glow and his power starts to grow exponentially. Raditz somehow managed to pull himself to his feet but didn't have the strength to transform. Once Cell's body stopped glowing, his body had completely transformed, looking much more humanoid than before. Cell looks at his hands and then moved over to the ocean to look at his reflection. "Mhm, so this is what it feels to be half of my perfection. To think even with my power depleted so much, I would gain this much of it with just one of it."

Raditz grit his teeth and he grabbed onto his right arm, having lost feeling in it after his attempt to use his trump card. _Is this bastard really that dense? He doesn't even realize the potential of Freeza's cells within him. The bastard was able to rejuvenate the injuries and stamina he'd taken whenever he transformed to a greater state._ "This fight's not over yet Cell. Who cares how powerful you've become, you're still going to die."

"Even being this close to my unrivaled power and you still believe such nonsense." He stuck his arm out and held his palm in Raditz's direction. "I think it's time to correct where this timeline went wrong."

Raditz backed up and closed his eyes tightly, preparing for his inevitable death, a death that never came. He opened his eyes again and saw that Cell wasn't even looking at him anymore. Instead the bio-android was looking in the air directly at Vegeta, who just hovered there with his arms crossed. "You let him absorb one of the androids and weakened yourself that badly? You're a pathetic failure of a saiyan."

"You certainly took your sweet ass time. Were you really so incompetent you were incapable of surpassing Super Saiyan until now?" retorted Raditz, both the saiyans smiling towards each other before turning their attention towards Cell.

"You people don't seem to learn when you stand no chance at all. Listen Vegeta, as you can see I have far more power than I did before. I have no more reason to waste my time fighting you all when I'm already invincible." Cell then noticed both Trunks and Nappa soon arrive behind Nappa. "Do you really believe your numbers will stand a chance against what I am now?"

"Oh they aren't here to help me. They're here to bare witness to me tearing you apart." retorted Vegeta, immediately going Super Saiyan. He touched down on the surface of the island and grinned.

Trunks looked surprised as he realized his father's plan. "He's already planning to go all out?"

In an explosive roar, Vegeta's power started shooting upwards, his aura growing rapidly and dust flying everywhere. Raditz was pushed back by the aura but was caught by Nappa. "You look like you've seen hell. He really put you through the wringer that badly?"

Raditz coughed as he clutched his arm once more. "He put up one hell of a fight, though this is more caused by my own recklessness." He couldn't believe how strong Vegeta's power was growing, definitely surpassing the power he used against Cell before.

18 watched from her hiding place and just stood in shock as the guy who's arms she broke just a few days ago was planning to take on Cell in this new, more powerful state. "Come on 16, we should use this chance to escape."

16 stared intensely at Vegeta as the saiyan was powering up. "We should hold out a little longer. Vegeta's power seems to be far greater than it was before."

Once Vegeta was finished powering up, everyone witnessing it was amazed to see the saiyan's muscles were a lot larger and his hair had even expanded outwards. Just as Cell was about to question him, Vegeta thrust his fist into the android's stomach, shocking everyone present when they saw a look of pain on Cell's face.

"Now the real fight begins."

* * *

 **Oh boy, this took long enough to finally finish. I'm sorry to everyone who was looking forward to this chapter, but I finally managed it. This last week I finally managed to pick myself up from that funk, with a little help of finally getting a job and playing quite a bit of Dragonball Legends (Friend code is 7cbcq687 if you wanna friend me and go a round or two). Now since I have a job, it'll take me a while to get into the flow of working so uploads of this story will be irregular until I finally get the hang of it. Writing this chapter has helped me get back into the swing of planning ahead so I'll try to get another chapter out sooner than it took for this one. That's all for this time, tune in next time for the next exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	31. An ultimately shocking betrayal

Nion finished the final part of building a model of her house in the sand, having nothing else to do with nobody to play with her. Something in her tail's been giving her the thought that something was wrong. She sighed as a strong gust of wind blew across the small island and knocked over her creation. "Please come home soon daddy." Her tail suddenly stopped flailing, prompting her to lift her head up in surprise and staring out into the ocean.

Launch stepped out of the house. "Nion, come on in. Your dumb aunt says it's time to study." As she noticed Nion staring out at the ocean, she walked over to her daughter and sat down in the sand next to her. "What's the matter pumpkin?"

Nion smiled as she turned and hugged her mother. "Nothing, everything's okay now."

The Earth woman returned her mother's hug. "Oh really? And how do you know that?"

"My tail told me." answered Nion quite bluntly.

Cell stumbled back after taking that fierce blow from Vegeta, collapsing to one knee and coughing up a puddle of spit. Vegeta simply smirked at his own power, seeing that just his first hit did that kind of damage to the being everyone was afraid of. Trunks just watched with very little surprise, only shocked that his father would take this form right from the beginning. Raditz and Nappa on the other hand were beyond amazed at Vegeta's new power, Raditz especially after fighting Cell's previous form firsthand.

Before Cell could even get back onto his feet, Vegeta took the initiative and swung a lethal kick straight into the android's skull, knocking him a good distance away, most definitely breaking some of Cell's newly formed teeth. "So this is the best the terrifying 'Cell' can do? What a disappointment."

"Am I seeing things correctly? Did Vegeta just pull that off with only 2 hits?!" asked Raditz, starting to believe that he overworked himself into unconsciousness and this was just some kind of insane dream.

"Looks that way. Hard to believe we could get that strong in just a single year while we worked hard just to get to where we are now in the past 3 years." said Nappa, clenching his fists in excitement to get his turn in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

"If you guys are amazed by this, just wait until he actually decides to get serious." responded Trunks, not taking his eyes off the fight for a moment. "Trust me, watching him progress to what he is now has given me a good idea on how to scale him and this isn't his full power."

Cell pulled himself back to his feet, his teeth having already regenerated. He took a moment to stare at Vegeta before getting angry and charging at the saiyan, aiming a fist right at the prince's head. Vegeta merely tilted his head, the punch whizzing past him, allowing him to grab onto the android's arm and land a kick against the android's chest, launching him back once again. Cell managed to stay on his feet this time though it didn't do him any good as Vegeta was already right in front of him with another kick aimed right at his head, slamming the android right into a rock. Vegeta once again made his way quickly to Cell but let the android get back up out of sport.

Androids 16 and 18 just watched in silent astonishment. 18 was in disbelief that the saiyan she was able to deal with by herself was overwhelming the monster that was able to take on her brother, 16, Piccolo and Raditz in just his first form. 16 was more trying to analyze how it's possible that the saiyan prince was able to increase his power so drastically in just under a week.

Cell got back up once again and growled, having a hard time believing he's already taken that kind of damage from Vegeta. "Damn you Vegeta. You've forced me to get serious."

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were already serious. By all means, go right on ahead." said Vegeta, crossing his arms as he patiently waits for Cell to power up.

Raditz narrowed his eyes at that statement, his tail twitching as he got a bad feeling just hearing Vegeta saying those words. _Don't do something reckless Vegeta._

Cell took the chance given to him and began to power up, his energy nearly flattening what was left of the island, just one small cliff for the android's to hide on left. "Do you understand now Vegeta? I am nearly perfect, I am unbeatable. You stand absolutely no chance against me."

"Impressive. Your power's certainly gone up quite a substantial amount. You might even have frightened me yesterday." He uncrossed his arms and clenched his fists. "Too bad you're no match for me now."

Krillin finally arrived at the island and watched the fight from high above the island. "I don't believe it, Vegeta's completely overwhelming Cell. It's almost frightening how strong these saiyans can get. Am I glad they're on our side." Deciding that Vegeta can handle Cell perfectly fine, the earthling decided to scout what was left of the island for the androids, assuming they had to be nearby. Fortunate enough, he found them right off the bat. He looked at the remote in his hand and started to sweat, knowing a choice needed to be made.

After giving it everything he possibly can against Vegeta, Cell finally managed to land a hit on Vegeta's cheek, causing the saiyan prince to stumble backwards. He grinned in complete confidence, only for it to be immediately shattered as he watched Vegeta grin and wipe his lips of the blood coming out. "T-This isn't possible. You're Vegeta, aren't you?!"

Vegeta tilted his head side to side to get the cricks out of neck. "Oh trust me, it's possible. This is your worst nightmare come to life, in the embodiment of the new me: Super Vegeta!"

 _Super Vegeta? He's clearly letting his strength get to his head._ Raditz winced at the pain coursing through his body, deciding he needs to recover quickly. "Nappa, keep a close eye on Vegeta, don't let him do anything stupid. He'll listen to you more than anyone else."

Nappa looked at his companion and nodded. "You got it, just get yourself out of here and fix yourself up."

Raditz nodded as he pulled out his ship's capsule and let it out above him, climbing into the hatch. Cell watched as the ship appeared from thin air and watched Raditz go inside. Deciding he wasn't going to let the saiyan get away so easily, he fired an energy blast right at the machine, only for it to get deflected by Vegeta getting in the way. "Your fight is with me, not that weakling."

As the whole fight raged on, Piccolo and Tien had finally made their way to Korin's Tower and retrieved a few senzu beans. Piccolo figured he'd be fine without one but Tien ate his since he was on death's door. Upon recovering, they made their way up to the Lookout where Bulma and Mr. Popo had been left all by themselves. "Oh, there you guys are. I was worried that Cell got you. Where's Yamcha?"

Both fighters stiffened up and looked away. Bulma was confused for a moment, then it sunk in to why they were choosing to be silent, tears starting to slide down her face as she dropped to her knees. "No way, this can't be happening."

"I'm sorry Bulma. And without the Dragon Balls, there's no way that he'll be able to come back." Piccolo said quite bluntly, feeling there was no reason for them to give her any hope where there was none.

Silence enveloped the Lookout as they were left to grieve Yamcha's death. The silence lasted several minutes before a roar of noise quickly approached as Raditz's ship stopped abruptly above the Lookout. The saiyan climbed out of the ship and sealed it back into its capsule. Having no more strength left to move, he fell from the air and collapsed to the ground, everyone running over to him.

"Raditz, are you okay?" asked Piccolo, reaching into his turban to grab the senzu bean he decided to save.

"Hold on." said Bulma, digging into Raditz's armor and pulling out another capsule. She opened it up for it to take the form of the portable healing pod. "With this, we can save on the senzu beans." With the help of Tien and Piccolo, the Earth woman managed to place the saiyan inside the healing pod, seal it up and fill it with the healing fluid. After tampering with a few settings, she finally backed away. "Raditz, what happened?"

After a brief moment of silence, Raditz's voice came from the healing unit through a built in speaker. "I tried to fight off Cell and stall for enough time for Vegeta to show up before Cell could absorb the androids. I lost before he could do so and he managed to absorb Android 17. Vegeta's currently holding him off now but I've had a bad feeling about that. Piccolo, is it possible to bring someone back to life without the Dragon Balls? I want to bring 17 back to life for saving mine."

"I'm sorry, it's just not possible. The dragon was the only one with that kind of power, and without Kami it's impossible to restore him." said Piccolo, understanding the saiyan's desire to bring the android back.

"I don't get it." Interjected Tien, changing the subject. "You said you had a bad feeling, but it feels like Vegeta's overwhelming Cell. What could you possibly have a bad feeling about?"

Raditz clenched the fist of the arm that was more damaged than anywhere else. "I'm worried Vegeta might do something stupid."

Cell climbed out of the water after taking yet another destructive blow from Vegeta, coughing up both water and blood. He growled as he looked up to see Vegeta floating midair with his arms crossed. "How is it possible?! How were you able to get this much power?!"

"Seeing as you're on the verge of defeat, I see no reason to tell you that. But I will enlighten you on something." Vegeta pointed towards his son. "You see Trunks there? While he may not be as powerful as me, he's pretty damn close."

Cell turned to look at Trunks, who just sat their with an intimidating stare aimed at the android. Nappa was also looking at the future halfling with shock, completely ignorant of the fact that Trunks was with Vegeta the entire time that Vegeta got this powerful until now. _Something feels off about this. We already know earthling-saiyan hybrids have a wellspring of potential yet Trunks isn't as powerful as Vegeta if not greater? Did Vegeta focus more on training himself or something?_

As he watched Cell be completely dumbfounded by the fact that Trunks was nearly as strong as he was, Vegeta growled and clenched his fists. "This is a total disappointment. Everyone made you out to be some sort of terrifying monster but you're nothing more than a terrified weakling. I was promised a proper challenge but you're hardly even a warm-up!"

Cell screamed loudly in frustration, his energy crushing the ground beneath him as he was in utter distress that everything was going against him even after attaining half of his perfection. An idea surged into his head as he calmed down and gazed at Vegeta. "You were promised a proper challenge huh? Then why not help me find android 18? After all, you have unresolved issues with her. If you let me absorb her, then you can kill 2 androids with one stone."

Nappa widened his eyes as he realized what Cell was up to, knowing full well that was the scheming side of Raditz that Cell was bringing out. "Vegeta, don't listen to him! He's trying to use your saiyan instincts against you!"

Vegeta turned his head to look at Nappa and shot his subordinate a piercing glare. "Quiet Nappa! You're aren't anywhere near strong enough to handle Cell yourself, you're merely an observer." His gaze returned to Cell. "You've got my attention."

Nappa stood frozen in disbelief. It had been several years since Vegeta had spoken to him like that and it tore him up inside that he wouldn't listen to him after all they'd been through.

Cell clenched his fists as his words were getting through to Vegeta much easier than expected. "If I absorb Android 18, not only would she become part of my being, but I'll achieve enough power to overwhelm you even as you are now."

Vegeta stared at the bio-android for a moment before grinning. "Very well, go ahead and find her. I'll be waiting for you to reach your perfect form. But if you're merely using this as a chance to run away and hide, I will kill you without so much as a second thought."

Cell started flying upwards so he could get a vantage point to where Android 18 might have gone, knowing she couldn't have gotten too far since she'd likely be supporting Android 16. Before he could get too high, Trunks fly in front of him, already transformed into a Super Saiyan. "Just because dad's given you consent to go for the other android doesn't mean that I'll let you do as you please!"

Around that time, Krillin had already confronted the androids and smashed the remote, hoping it would win them over and make them listen when he asked them to leave. Cell turned around to tell Vegeta to deal with Trunks when he saw 18 talking to Krillin from atop the only cliff left on the ruined island. Trunks noticed as well and knew he had to act immediately. "You guys! Cell sees you!"

Krillin, 16 and 18 looked up at the sky and saw that Cell was looking directly at them. Before they could move, Cell started rushing right for them, refusing to let an opportune chance like this slip through his fingers. Trunks powered up to the same enlarged state that Vegeta had become and flew after Cell, refusing to let the android have his way.

Vegeta smiled to himself due to how lucky he felt. "How fortunate that the androids were here all along. Now I don't have to wait for my chance at a proper opponent or for Kakarot to get to him first." As he was about to go after Trunks to keep him from interfering with Cell, he felt someone grab hold of him from behind. He turned his head to see it to be none other than Nappa. "Nappa, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Whatever it takes to get you to listen!" shouted Nappa, struggling to keep Vegeta at bay considering the massive difference in their power now. "I thought after everything we went through on Namek, you'd learn to trust me enough to listen to what I have to say. Are you saying the words of that freak are more important than mine?!"

Vegeta grit his teeth as he tried to pull free from the larger saiyan's tight grip. "D-Damnit Nappa!"

Cell turned his head in time to see Trunks slam the android into the ground, the halfling stopping in front of Krillin and the other androids. "Get the hell out of here! I'll handle Cell myself." He quickly turned around to intercept Cell's incoming tail, grabbing it by the stinger before blasting him with an energy blast.

The bio-android growled as he managed to disperse the energy propelling him, glaring at the half-saiyan. "Will you people ever cease to get in my way?! I'm so close to achieving my perfect form! Just get the hell out of my way!" He launched a barrage of energy towards Trunks, not just to keep the saiyan busy but to make a smokescreen for him to slip past with.

The tactic didn't work as Trunks emerged from the smoke, firing a Masenko onto Cell that propelled the android high into the sky, sending him out of view. "I don't care what you want, I've had enough of my own hellish future, I refuse to let this one's become even worse!" He brought his hands together and began to build up energy.

Vegeta watched as Trunks was preparing an attack that would undoubtedly eradicate Cell. Refusing to let the opportunity for a proper opponent slip through his fingertips, he jammed his elbow into Nappa's side. As the pain forced the larger saiyan to loosen his grip, Vegeta grabbed Nappa's arm and threw him down towards the island and quickly fired a blast at Trunks that would disrupt the building attack. He then flew down to the island and slammed his foot down on Nappa's back, ensuring the saiyan couldn't move. He grabbed and pulled the saiyan's tail with one hand and aimed an energy blast at the base. "You dared to go against my wishes and risked my chances for a true fight. You are a disgrace to the title of Saiyan Elite!" He fired at the base of Nappa's tail, eradicating it from the saiyan's body in a way that it'd never grow back.

Nappa howled in incredible pain as his tail was removed in a very violent way, every muscle in his body tightening in agony as Vegeta did the worst thing he could have done to him besides killing him.

Trunks was completely shocked to see that event unfold, calling back to several times in the time chamber when Vegeta would speak proudly of Nappa. It took him several moments before he realized Cell's approach, aiming his hand to the sky to fire at him.

Cell grinned as he put his hands to the sides of his face. "Solar Flare!" The used technique completely blinded everyone on the island, allowing the android to fly down and land right in front of Android 18 and start engulfing her in his tail, starting to process of absorbing her.

Nappa growled as he opened one of his eyes, seeing Cell and starts to gather energy into his hand. "I won't allow it! Blast Geyser" A pillar of blazing energy erupted from under Cell as the android was in the process of absorbing 18, hoping to halt the process. It didn't do any good as 18 was completely absorbed anyway and Cell began to glow, his energy increasing dramatically as he began to transform.

Raditz's eyes flung open as he forced himself out of the healing tank, gasping for air as he stared into the distance in the direction of where he can feel Cell's power grow even more than before. He clenched his fist as he had a pretty good idea on what had happened. "Damnit Vegeta, how could you?!"

Nion was in the middle of reading a book when the biggest chill ran down her spine, her tail starting to quiver as the scariest feeling began to envelop her. Tear began to well up in her eyes as she ran over to her mom. "Mommy!"

Launch saw her daughter more upset than ever and hugged her, trying her best to calm down. "There there, it's okay. Mommy's here and she's gonna make everything better."

Nion shook her head as she looked in the direction of something weird to her was growing, unaware that she was sensing the power of Cell beginning to grow. "It's not okay. Everything's turned really bad."

Launch began to look really concerned, as well as everyone else who was beginning to gather around the child. "H-How do you know that."

"Because my tail told me so."

* * *

 **And there we go again with another chapter. I've been waiting to get this one written down for a while simply for that utter betrayal on Vegeta's part. All I can say is poor Nappa. I know I probably could have drawn this chapter out a bit longer but let's be honest, nobody really gives a damn about semi-perfect Cell so I decided to cut through all that in a single chapter. I look forward to seeing what you all think of this chapter and if you'll hate me for making Vegeta do what he did or just yell at the character itself. Either way, that's all for now. Tune in next time for another exciting chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	32. Rage to the 3rd Grade

Cell finished his transformation and stared at his hand. He stood in complete silence as he looked at the smooth textures of his hands, in disbelief of his newfound power and appearance. Vegeta simply stared at Cell from a distance, not very impressed by Cell's new look. Trunks was seething in anger at the foolishness his father had displayed in letting the android attain his perfection. Nappa lay on the ground, has spine too damaged to even get up.

Meanwhile Krillin was on the verge of tears in a mixture of sadness and absolute rage, his anger towards Cell being more than he'd ever felt in his entire life. "That bastard. Cell! I'll never forgive you!" The earthling flew over to Cell and started attacking the android in a blind rage, his emotions blinding him from seeing that none of his attacks even made the android budge an inch. He then flew backwards and formed a Destructo Disc, tossing it at Cell, snapping out of his rage as he saw his ultimate technique simply shatter against the monster's neck.

Cell had barely even noticed the attempted beating on the back of his head, still trying to get a gauge on his newfound form and power. He started throwing fist at nothing, getting an understanding of his speed, the earthling unable to even see those punches being thrown and Nappa's eyes were just barely able to keep up with that level of speed. Once he properly understood his new strength, he grins and turns his head around to stare at the Earthling.

Krillin didn't even get the chance to blink before the android was suddenly right in front of him, his eyes didn't even see Cell make a move. "Oh c-!" He wasn't even able to finish his sentence before Cell's leg collided with his neck, hurling the earthling across the island and nearly falling into the ocean.

"Krillin!" shouted Trunks, rushing forward to help his friend who's neck had nearly been broken from that attack. He lifted the Krillin's head off the ground and reached into his armor, pulling out one of the two senzu beans that Goku had given him. "Come on, eat up."

Vegeta, having witnessed that pathetic display of strength, remained unimpressed by Cell's strength. "You must feel so proud, nearly killing an earthling like him."

Cell turned his attention towards the saiyan prince, smiling as he faced him. "Pride isn't something I value as much as you do Vegeta. But if you want, you can help me warm up."

"Very well, but I won't be holding back any longer so if you die in your little warm up, I can't be held responsible." responded Vegeta, getting into his signature fighting pose.

Nappa dug his fingers into the dust as he felt even more helpless than he ever has. He was a lot more level headed than Vegeta was and could clearly see something wasn't right. Even in his base form, Cell could have easily taken care of Krillin in that single attack and yet the earthling was still alive after a blow from Cell's perfect form. "Vegeta, don't fall for such a simple provocation!"

The saiyan's words fell on deaf ears as Vegeta already went in for his attack, swinging his leg in for a high kick, followed by an elbow strike to the skull. Neither attack landed their mark as Cell blocked both attack with his hands, though the android did strain to hold them back, amazed how strong the saiyan was against his supposedly invincible perfect form.

Perfect Cell thrusts his arm right for Vegeta's head, Vegeta managing to block the palm strike and leapt back after that hit, his arms stinging after that attack. Cell would then leap back a safe distance, grinning quite cheekily as the saiyan prince stood there with his arms shaking. "What's the matter, Vegeta? You look a little sore already."

"This is impossible! I achieved the next stage of Super Saiyan and yet you're able to block my attacks so easily! How?!" shouted Vegeta, losing his cool very quickly.

"Don't sell yourself short. You're a lot stronger than I had expected to be compared to my current form. Be that as it may, I did say that this would be a warm up." Cell chuckled, his calm composure only making Vegeta's panic even worse. "And to think you nearly paralyzed your pathetic underling just to see me in this state."

Vegeta felt his blood turn cold as everything ran back to him, remembering what he'd done to Nappa just a few short minutes ago. His ice cold blood then began to boil as his rage at both himself and Cell was pushing him over the edge, his next words sounding very quiet yet sinister. "You shut your damn mouth."

Cell became curious at the sudden change in tone from the prince. "What's the matter, did I just touch a nerve? I'm just saying that you saved me the trouble of having to make an example out of him."

Vegeta's energy suddenly erupts as the veins in his head become visible from his rising anger. "I said shut it!" His muscles start to get even bigger than before as the shortest of the saiyans started to grow to be as tall as Goku.

Trunks turned his head to see his father grow far stronger than a moment ago. "I can't believe it. I thought I'd surpassed my father, but he's achieved the form I discovered in the chamber."

Nappa watched as Vegeta's anger triggered a rise in power in his friend, trying to be impressed but the sharp pain in his back leaving him feeling betrayed. Even so, the saiyan elite decided to give one last shot to give Vegeta advice. "Vegeta, don't go berserk and attack wildly! Focus your attacks and take him down!"

Vegeta grinned as Nappa was still trying to be helpful even after what happened. The prince knew that the only way Nappa would ever forgive him would be if he managed to kill Cell, something he planned to do quite thoroughly. "Any last words Cell?"

"Please, are you trying to intimidate me? Getting bigger isn't going to accomplish anything but take up space." Cell crossed his arms as he waited for the saiyan prince to make a move. "But I'll humor you and give you a chance to hit me."

Vegeta immediately acted on those words. He rushed forward and slammed his fist right into Cell's skull, sending the android flying backwards over the ocean. Cell tried to process how Vegeta's power had grown so drastically to actually harm him, though that thinking gave Vegeta enough time to get above Cell and clasp both his hands together, slamming them right between Cell's crown, driving the android into the ocean with a very large splash. He then turned to face Trunks over on the island. "Give Nappa one of those damn beans. I'll be fine without one!" He slammed his arm down to collide with the incoming energy blast from Cell, creating a cloud of smoke.

Trunks snapped out of his amazement and flew over to Nappa and fed him the spare senzu bean. Trunks could hear what sounded like Nappa's spine fixing itself though would notice that the saiyan's tail didn't grow back, showing a bit of worry. As the saiyan managed to get back up, the three of them still on the island could see that the two of them fighting had become evenly matched in terms of strength. "Since he's become that stronger state, there's no point in holding back anymore. I'm going to help him."

Nappa grabbed the half-saiyan by the shoulder and shook his head. "Don't bother. You know he'll refuse your help, now even more than ever." He let go of the kid's shoulder and crosses his arms, watching the fight intently.

"But why? You cannot be telling me this is all about his pride!" Krillin shouted, still pretty angry for everything Vegeta's done up until now. "Trunks, if you get involved now, he'd have no reason to refuse your help!"

"It has nothing to do with his pride!" Nappa turned Super Saiyan to emphasize his argument. "He's doing this because it's what he has to do." He powers down and returns his gaze to the fight. "In his eyes, killing Cell by himself is the only chance to receive our forgiveness."

Krillin and Trunks looked at each other and noticed Vegeta starting to take several hits from Cell, the saiyan prince coughing up blood as his blows cause Cell to do the same. Krillin clenched his fist as he could understand where Nappa was coming from. Trunks was having a harder time forgiving his father.

Vegeta and Cell slammed their fists into each others' faces and knocked each other back, Vegeta spitting out blood as Cell fixed his broken nose. "I'm honestly impressed Vegeta. Despite that new form of yours being clearly slow, you've managed to time yourself to keep up. Maybe I've completely misjudged your skill."

"Ever since I saw the undeniable growth of Raditz and Kakarot upon arriving to this planet, I knew there was an untapped potential within the entirety of the saiyan race. That fact became ever more clear when Kakarot arrived on Namek and Raditz showed up and was able to confront Freeza." Vegeta looked down to the water and saw his reflection. "That's why I trained endlessly, to balance out my raw power with the indomitable skill that those brothers achieved."

Cell narrowed his eyes as he looked at himself, getting an idea and smiling. "You bring up an interesting point. I've achieved this level of strength simply by absorbing other living beings and haven't trained a day in my life." He looks up from the water, his eyes holding a sinister enjoyment and holds both his hands up, preparing a Gallick Gun. "I have a little proposition for you. Should you manage to survive this attack, I'll give you all the time to prepare for a second round. You were nowhere near this strong a few days ago so I'll hold an event in 10 days to see if any of you can give me a true challenge. But that's if you survive this."

Vegeta watches as the arrogant Cell makes such a declaration while preparing the prince's signature move. Vegeta grinned as he held out his hand to his sides, a yellow crackle surrounding his hands as he begins to build up energy for a brand new attack. "You'll regret that Cell. I have no plans to let you leave here alive. Even if I did, you'd have not just one saiyan to deal with, but 4."

Krillin stumbled backwards as the wind pressure from their charging attacks was almost suffocating "Guys, you don't think they'll be dumb enough to let those attacks clash, because that close to the planet's surface and we might not survive."

"Trunks, you said you could use that same form as Vegeta?" Nappa's focus never left the two powerful warriors preparing to fight. Trunks gave a nod that Nappa clearly couldn't see, though the saiyan still continued speaking as if he did see it. "I want you to take the form and be ready to knock away Cell's attack should things seem too dangerous."

On the Lookout, Raditz had been in the healing pod long enough to be fully recovered from everything he'd been through against Cell. Everything had been quiet for some time as the three fighters who could feel what was going on just stayed quiet in concentration as Bulma was too nervous to even ask what was going on. It was Piccolo, who's excellent hearing and faint understanding of the Dragon Clan's mystical abilities allowed him to actually know what was going on, who broke the silence. "Looks like Vegeta's finally taking things seriously."

Bulma jumped as the namekian finally spoke up after several minutes of silence. "You mean he wasn't before? What exactly is going on over there?!"

"I'll be honest, I'm a little lost myself." replied Tien, who's just looking off the edge of the Lookout without being able to see the fight. "I know that Vegeta and Cell are fighting on equal footing now but I don't quite understand the sudden ferociousness coming from Vegeta."

"Vegeta's proving he has a conscious buried deep under that overwhelming ego of his." retorted Raditz, still very angry at the fact that Vegeta had the chance to kill Cell before he could achieve his perfect form. "If I had to guess, he can't rely on that new form of his forever, so he's planning to hit Cell with everything he's got." He turned his head to Piccolo. "Don't you agree?"

"Right, though there's no telling how strong that new move of Vegeta's is gonna be compared to Cell's unrestrained power." Piccolo faced the inside of the Lookout. _I hope that you know what you're doing in there Goku, because we may very well need every saiyan to take Cell down at this rate._

Cell continued pooling power into his Gallick Gun, even after it was already ready to fire. The android was in quite the good mood and wanted to give whatever Vegeta's new technique is a fair chance to scale. "Taking quite some time to prepare, aren't you Vegeta?"

Vegeta just stayed silent as his muscles twitched from building up this attack. He never had any plans to use such a slow transformation but was pushed to do so to make sure he had any chance of destroying Cell. Having pushed his reflexes so that he could counter Cell's blows, his body was already aching and preparing this attack was helping in no way possible. Feeling that it was ready to fire, he slammed his hands together, aimed at Cell as lightning from the building attack was starting to rampage wildly.

Krillin jumped back as one of the bolts of lightning had nearly hit him, the wild energy having torn a line through the island with ease. "Guys, I don't think it's a clash that we have to worry about. If Vegeta fires that, winning or not, it's bound to hit the surface of the planet and destroy it in no time flat." He ducked to avoid yet another bolt of lightning.

"Yeah, I'm getting that impression too." Trunks had bulked up to the same level of Super Saiyan that his father had, though wasn't as confident in it after seeing it in action by a more capable fighter. He watched a stray bolt of lightning come his way and simply slammed it away with his hand, his hand burning from doing so even at his level of strength. "Though at this point, I thing it's too late to stop it."

Both were surprised to see Nappa starting to laugh. "Absolute amateurs, do you really think Vegeta is that careless?" The saiyan leans his head to the side to dodge one of the lightning bolts, some of his beard stubs getting singed. "Back on Namek, we were completely cornered by a guy named Zarbon. I was already in bad condition and we had no means to win that fight. Even with Zarbon present and overwhelming us, Vegeta managed to hit me with a blast that sent me flying several miles away without killing me." _Besides, you're not dumb enough to destroy the only home you have left, are you?_

Vegeta felt every muscle in his body scream at him as this technique was finally ready. "You better not hold anything back, Cell. I plan to vaporize you with this attack!"

"Trust me Vegeta, I'd never hold back after you made me wait this long." Cell thrust his hands forward and fired the pinkish beam at Vegeta with great speed. "Gallick Gun!"

Vegeta darted his eyes straight for the android as he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Final Flash!" He fired his attack forward, the beam slower than expected but much larger than the Gallick Gun. Where everyone expected a beam struggle, they saw the larger yellow beam completely decimate its way through the pinkish beam, parting the ocean in its wake as it completely enveloped Cell. Once the beam had met its mark, Vegeta swiftly thrust his hands upwards, redirecting the beam from its path and directing it into the void of space where it wouldn't collide against anything important.

Krillin got flashbacks of the time they fought the saiyans, his Scatter Bullet technique having done a good job to slow down Nappa back when they were fighting for their lives. "He actually did it! I can't feel Cell's energy at all!"

Trunks took a deep breath as he powered down from his enlarged transformation. "Thank goodness. He managed to avoid directly hitting the planet too."

Nappa didn't relax however, knowing that it was nowhere near that easy to take Cell out after all the effort they'd done to keep him from reaching this state. "It's too early to celebrate. The last time we assumed we won, 3 of us ended up dead. Keep your eyes peeled and your energy sharp!"

Krillin stiffened as he was reminded of the most horrific moment of his life, one that gives him nightmares to this very day. Trunks wasn't positive of what they were on about but allowed himself to listen to the more experienced fighter, powering up at least to base Super Saiyan.

Vegeta meanwhile had reduced his form to base Super Saiyan as well as his body had been too strained to continue fighting in that absurd form. "You damn bastard, you never planned to take that attack head on. You used the earthling's technique to duplicate yourself and moved out of the range of that blast, didn't you?"

"Of course. You've all been far too frustrating today for me not to have a backup plan." answered Cell, who was casually hovering back to back with Vegeta, neither of them making an attempt to attack the other. "But I will keep my word about sparing you all, for now at least. See you in 10 days, Vegeta." The android then began to fly away from the battlefield.

All of the spectators were about to fire upon the fleeing android, but lowered their arms as Vegeta held out his, his back turned to them as he couldn't bare to look at him after what he's done.

Piccolo furrowed his brow as he stared off the edge of the lookout. He tried to understand the process of events that had just happened, though was still at a loss for words, making it hard to explain to everyone that was asking for a play-by-play.

Bulma cleared her throat to try and break the silence before speaking. "So.. Is everything okay now? Did Vegeta win?"

Piccolo shook his head. "No, Cell is still very much alive. But for some reason that I'm unable to understand, he left everyone alive and is giving us 10 days to prepare." He groaned and sat down, getting into his meditation position to think about it.

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Everyone turned to look at Raditz, who was actually smiling, much to everyone's discomfort. "He's letting my brother's love for battle and Vegeta's overconfident ego hold center stage in those cells of his, wanting us to get stronger so he can enjoy himself." He walks up to the edge of the Lookout beside Piccolo and clenched his fist tightly, to the point of making his hand bleed. "And he's gonna regret doing so, since I'm going to be the one to take him down."

* * *

 **Fucking hell, where do I even begin? Guess I should start with the fact that I'm not dead. I've just been supremely busy with life that I eventually forgot about this. Then I remembered it and** **tried to continue it despite things always getting in the way. Now that excuses are out of the way, explanations. I know that the turnaround with Vegeta is a bit too sudden for most people's liking, but it's a lot more enjoyable than letting things play out how they normally would and see him get curb stomped. There's definitely going to be repercussions for what happened to Nappa, but that's better handled through a psychological approach than him pretending he did nothing wrong until a sudden change of heart like his feelings on Trunks. Now that I'm out of that part of the Cell arc, I can prepare a lot of preparation for the Cell Games, which I hope I can please people on. That's all for me. I'm back and will try to get this story back on track and not let it go that long again. Tune in for the hopefully swift release of the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.**


	33. The time has come Into the Time Chamber

Raditz winced as he felt his daughter wrap bandages around his chest. He could have easily healed himself in one of the pods on his ship or the portable healing pod, but both his wife and kid insisted that he needs to properly rest. He knew there was no arguing with either of them, Launch wouldn't take no for an answer in her current state and he couldn't possibly argue with Nion, regardless how much he tried. "Gah, Nion! You're wrapping it too tightly!"

Nion didn't seem to stop regardless of her father's complaints. She continued running around her father's large frame to get the bandages on. "You've been working too hard daddy. If I don't make sure you heal properly, then you'll just break again."

"Yeah, you tell him sweety!" cheered Launch, encouraging Nion into punishing her dad, particularly for the fact that he almost died yesterday. Since then, she's been keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't go overboard with his training.

Raditz couldn't believe he was being teamed on by his family. He drooped his head in defeat as there was no getting out of this. "I know you're both just trying to protect me, but you don't have to go to such extremes." He stiffened and howled in pain as he felt the bandages tighten on his ribs. Surprisingly they weren't broken despite how rough he was on himself during his training in the ship, though they still ached to the point that just the slightest amount of pressure hurt.

With a start, all of them jumped at the sound of the phone calling. Normally they don't use it thanks to the functionality of the scouters, but Raditz's refusal to use a scouter other than his own left them no choice but to use the simple Earth method of communication.

"I'll get it." said Launch, walking over to the phone. "You've reached the residence of Raditz, Launch and Nion. Oh Bulma, nice to hear from you, hows Trunks?"

Nion watched her mom walk out of the room and smiled. That smile faded quickly when she turned back to see her father look so distraught. "What's wrong daddy? Are you having trouble breathing from me bandaging you?"

Raditz shook his head, his hair swaying with the motions. "No, that's not it Nion. Daddy's angry and upset because daddy wasn't strong enough. I never have." His entire body slumped forward, as if he completely lost the strength to lift his body.

After several moment of silence, Raditz felt a rather fierce slap across his face that flung him across the room. He growled in pain as he put his hand to his cheek and got up, seeing Nion had hit him with her tail, a look of anger and tears shedding across her face. She looked like she was about to rush forward and follow up on that slap but was stopped as Launch ran up and grabbed hold of her. "Nion, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Apologize to your dad this instant!"

"That is not my daddy!" roared Nion with great anger, stunning both of her parents. "My daddy would never say that he's weak! Daddy is the strongest person there is!" The raw aura emanating from this child not even 3 years old was enough to push her mother back as she stared at her father, a rain of tears falling from her eyes.

"But I wasn't strong! I was too weak to avenge one of my friends and now I'm too weak to do anything to the monster who could very will kill us at any time.." said Raditz in a defeated tone, tears starting to shed from his eyes as well.

"Then get stronger! Beat the monster and become stronger than anyone else!" Nion charged forth to punch her father, closing her eyes as she couldn't bare to look at her dad as she struck him again. Launch lunged forward and grabbed the young girl's tail, though that didn't seem to slow the half-saiyan girl in the slightest.

The punch never landed, the girl's fist was stopped by the tail of her father. The saiyan couldn't help but cackle to himself as he was amazed how much strength and ferocity his daughter already possessed and she hadn't even learned to properly throw a punch yet. Even now, it was all he could do to stop her from hitting him again in his weakened state.

"You're right Nion. I do need to get stronger. But daddy needs to take risks to get stronger." He looked up, his confident smile on his face once more. "Will you let daddy disappear until tomorrow night?"

"Hold on, you're not going anywhere!" screamed Launch, recovering from being dragged across the stone floor of their house from holding onto her absurdly powerful child's tail. "What if Cell ends up attacking us while you're-"

"Okay." Nion interrupted. She eased her punch again and that sense of overwhelming strength completely vanished from her in an instant. "But only if you tail promise." She swiped her tail free from her mother's grip and held it out from.

Raditz stared at his daughter in the eyes to make sure she was genuine about her decision. He coiled his tail around his and nodded. "Tail promise." He then grabbed his daughter and pulled her into a hug, to which she returned the gesture openly.

Launch watched the both of them hug each other and exhaled, giving in to the fact that her daughter truly was part saiyan. "Fine, I won't stop you from leaving. But only if you promise me that you'll protect us from Cell afterwards."

Raditz forced himself to his feet, once more reminded of what shape he was currently in, and grabbed his wife's hands. "You have my word. And after this is all over, perhaps we can take a trip somewhere nice."

Launch couldn't stop herself from blushing from her husband's gentle gesture. He wasn't normally this soft, but she finds herself unable to resist against him when he is. "Very well. Nion and I will be at Kame House with everyone else." She gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek and made her way to her daughter. "Oh, and I have a message from Bulma. She said that your scouter is fixed."

Raditz smiled warmly to the affections of his wife, seeing her pick up their child and made their way for the door. "I'll be sure to get it as I get Nappa."

Hours later, Cell made a declaration to the world about hosting a martial arts tournament dubbed the Cell Games, stating that anyone can challenge him, but should he win he will kill everyone on the planet. Nappa had been sitting on his bed the entire time while it was happening as Bulma and her father were busy repairing Android 16 and Vegeta had isolated himself inside the gravity chamber within Capsule Corp.

The saiyan heard someone knock on his door and walked over, opening it to find Raditz standing before him. "Well look who it is. For someone who has access to advanced healing technology, you sure look like hell."

Raditz understood what the larger saiyan meant. He wasn't wearing his armor and was donned in a sleeveless top that made sure to let others see the bandages around his biceps. Not to mention the little ice pack to help with the slap from his daughter earlier. "Yeah, had a bit of an argument with the girls. Everything's good now. I take it you saw Cell's declaration?"

He was given a nod as Nappa walked back to his bed and took a seat. Raditz withheld a comment on how the bed was able to support the other saiyan's larger frame. "Bulma seems to think that we have a chance of beating Cell if we all work together to take him down, but I've witnessed his strength firsthand. I'm not so certain we actually can take him down. Plus, something tells me that the last thing Vegeta wants to do is work with any of us after what he did." He turned his head to look as far behind him as he could, pointing to the fact that he no longer had his tail.

"Believe me, I wouldn't want to work with Vegeta either for the Hell he started. But it's pretty obvious we're going to need everyone if we're going to even have a chance survive this." Raditz said, leaning against the wall. "My brother and nephew should be exiting the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in just a few hours. Once they do, you and I can go inside and finally train to the same level that Vegeta and Trunks have. Actually, we'll train beyond that."

Nappa looked a bit stunned at the younger Saiyan's declaration. "You actually think that's possible? It's no secret that we were weaker than him before he trained in the chamber. How do you plan to go beyond that?"

Raditz simply gave a toothy grin to Nappa's question. "You'll find out. Now let's get going. If we don't head up there to declare we're going in, Vegeta will take our spot." He would then open the door and make his way outside.

The saiyan elite narrowed his eyes, wondering what trick Raditz has up those non-existent sleeves of his this time around. He pulled himself off the bed and made his way outside with Raditz.

The two of them would then proceed to fly up to the Lookout, where Trunks, Piccolo and Tien were all just sitting in wait. After a few hours passed, Vegeta also arrived, though didn't say a word to anyone, the saiyan prince just walking circles around the edge of the Lookout for hours on end. In the meantime, Trunks and Nappa started to talk about possible ways to deal with Cell while Raditz and Piccolo meditated the entire time.

Without warning, 3 hours sooner than expected, everyone turned their head to the direction of the Time Chamber, sensing a pair of energies emerging from nowhere. Everyone got to their feet and made their way to the entrance of the chamber. From the doorway, they witnessed both Goku and Gohan emerge, both of their armors completely torn apart as well as both of them being Super Saiyan, to everyone's surprise.

"That's good, Trunks and Vegeta are still alive. But so is Cell." said Goku, looking around and taking notice of everyone, understanding something strange. "What exactly happened while we were gone?"

As Piccolo was explaining everything that had happened, a single thought ran through the minds of Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz. _Why are they in the base Super Saiyan state?_

"I see, so Cell's giving us time to prepare for his little martial arts tournament." Goku smiled and actually looked relieved at that. "That's good, that means we have plenty of time."

As Goku started getting dressed in his usual gi and Gohan had Piccolo materialize a new Demon Clan gi for him, Vegeta spoke up finally to Raditz and Nappa. "Hurry up and get into the chamber already. We may have 9 days before the Cell Games but there's no point wasting any time that could be used for preparing."

Raditz groaned at Vegeta's hasty tone but didn't retaliate harshly since he couldn't hear Vegeta's aggressive tone. "Just give us a few minutes. There's something I'd like to ask my brother." The saiyan would then walk up to Goku and asked them to walk over to the other side of the Lookout to privately talk. "Tell me brother, how does Gohan play into all this?"

Goku's eyes widened in surprise as his brother named Gohan out of nowhere. He tried to think of a way to hide what he was planning. "What do you mean? I needed Gohan to become a Super Saiyan so I'd have a perfect training partner."

"We both know that's a lie Kakarot." Raditz could see that Goku understood he was being by using his saiyan name. "If you wanted a perfect training partner, you'd have taken me since I'm already a Super Saiyan. Not to mention you wouldn't have bothered doing whatever you did to keep yourself in Super Saiyan with Gohan if he didn't have some sort of role in what's to come."

Goku was stunned as his brother completely read through him. He chuckled nervously and looked around, pulling Raditz in closer and lowered his voice in the hopes Piccolo couldn't hear them. "The truth is I plan to have Gohan fight Cell."

"What?!" Shouted Raditz, to which Goku would then desperately try to shush him.

"In the years preparing for our fight with the androids, I noticed something inside Gohan." Goku smiled as he started recollecting their training. "That anger of his is hard to control, but it's able to draw power out of him like I've never seen. So I spent several months teaching him to control that anger. Once he did, he was able to become a Super Saiyan with no problems. But while I was training, I noticed something else. He might be able to do it. He might be able to break through the limits of the Super Saiyan form, he just needs a proper push."

Raditz stared in complete bewilderment at his brother's ludicrous plan. "So you plan to have my nephew fight the biggest threat the planet, no.. The universe has ever seen, just to gamble the chance that Gohan might go even further beyond Super Saiyan." Once he saw his brother nod in confirmation, Raditz couldn't help but sigh as he backed up. "Only you could think of something this ludicrous. But I'm no better. I have my own method of breaking through that barrier, but whether it's to the same point you're expecting Gohan to go, we can only see."

"Hold on, what do you mean by that?" asked Goku, ever curious what his shifty brother might have planned.

Before Raditz could give his brother an answer, he heard someone call out his name. "Raditz! Are you going to talk with your brother until your time's up or are you and Nappa going to get into the damn chamber?!" Vegeta was gritting his teeth at the saiyans stalling valuable time that could be used to get themselves ready for the Cell Games.

The saiyan brothers walked around the corner, Raditz looking a little sour at Vegeta. "I suppose we should start getting home. Chi-Chi's probably worried sick." said Goku. "Let's go home Gohan." His son would then nod cheerily and the father-son duo flew off the Lookout.

Nappa and Raditz would then start making their way to the entrance of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Nappa grabbed the handle of the door when he noticed Raditz had stopped at the staircase and was looking at his capsules. "What do you need all that for? There's already food inside and our armor will last for the entirety of the year."

"Just making sure we have exactly what we need to optimize our training." Raditz clamped his capsule holder shut and walked up to the door. "You ready to spend an entire year with just me?"

Nappa gave a toothy grin. "Nope, we're gonna be at each other's throats within a week minimum."

Without warning, the entire Lookout began to shake violently, a sharp tingle running down everyone's spine as they could tell exactly where the quake was originating. Directly below them, at Korin's Tower, Goku was unleashing a tremendous amount of power. The quake eased down half a minute later, but the shock it left on everyone, particularly Raditz who knew of Goku's plan.

 _This is absurd. You hold this much power with likely even more in reserves and you plan to have your son draw out something even greater?_ Raditz then chuckled to himself, a sign to Nappa that the Saiyan had likely lost it. "You always were one to do such absurd things. Just wait dear brother, we'll see you tomorrow."

The saiyan duo finally entered the chamber and were completely washed in the intense conditions of the area. It took some adjusting, but they finally caught their breath. Nappa stepped out into the seemingly endless white void. "Everyone lasted an entire year in something this intense? No wonder Vegeta seemed so angry when he got out, after a year of this I'd lose it too."

"Then it's a good thing we'll be training in something far more comfortable." Raditz pulled out his capsule holder and pulled a large one out. He clicked it and threw it into the open space, watching it pop open into a cloud of smoke and unveil his spaceship.

Nappa stepped back in surprise as the large ship had appeared only a few feet away from him. "Raditz, you're a genius! Not only will we be able to train in more intense gravity than this place can provide, we'll also be able to recover from our injuries a lot faster." A sudden realization came to him as his proud expression looked more stern. "Why didn't you offer this to the others? If they had this kind of benefit, Cell might have been dead by now."

"To be honest, I hadn't thought of this until halfway through Vegeta's training." He walked over to a rack where he put on a set of intense weights that caused him to stumble a little just in normal gravity. "And when I suggested it to my brother, he said that gravity training wasn't what Gohan needed. It'd keep him active if he stayed in conditions he wouldn't be able to adjust to."

The saiyan brute wondered why Raditz was putting on such unnecessary weight when they were about to go into increased gravity. "Then why aren't you trying to do the same. A strategist like you should always be adapting so that sounds like the perfect way to test your abilities." He stepped into the gravity room and started messing with the controls.

Raditz took a deep breath and upped his power as much as he could without going Super Saiyan. "A strategy is only good in a situation where I can use what we have to our advantage. Cell's little tournament puts us in a tight spot where we'll be forced to take him on one at a time and thus negating any sort of advantage against him."

"Then what exactly do you have planned?" Nappa tried to hide the worry in his voice, though wasn't sure he was doing the best job. Raditz usually had a plan that had good odds in success, though from what he had just been told it sounded like his friend didn't have anything that would work against Cell. "Are you planning some new technique that can bypass his regeneration?"

Raditz shook his head as he moved up to the controls, adjusting it to 100 times Earth's gravity, immediately buckling as the weights strapped all over his body had grown even heavier. He forced himself back up as he started swinging punches into the open air. "Something like that, but first I need to train my body. It's far too weak to withstand the power that I'm trying to unleash. I could bring out short spurts back when I was fighting Cell but it still drained my body. That was when he was still imperfect and weakened. If I hope to prove a real fight against him as he is now, I'll need to increase my durability a hundredfold."

Nappa sighed in relief as Raditz at least had something in mind, even if it didn't sound like an actual plan. "So you're putting down the copycat act and actually prioritizing getting stronger. Seeing how that worked well back when you fought me, I'll help you out. You're more useful than I am in my current state."

Raditz grit his teeth and quickly turned around and struck Nappa in the chest. It didn't hurt the large brute a whole lot since Raditz was slowed down by the weight currently trying to crush his body. Even still, it caught the Saiyan elite off guard. "Don't you dare say that! You may not see it but I do. When all our strengths are roughly the same, you're the saiyan with the most brute force strength. My brother may be the most powerful overall and Vegeta has the most destructive energy output, but you're the one we can rely on when we need some real muscle, not like that form Vegeta used."

The larger of the duo was amazed Raditz had given a roughly fair role of the saiyans. He noticed Raditz didn't even mention himself but let that slide to keep up with the current conversation. "Then what, I just build up my power and hope my 'brute force' is enough to take on Cell?"

"Not exactly. The unfortunate thing is that Cell probably understands you better than he understands us other saiyans." The saiyan returned to his training, wincing at how much the weight was making his body hurt and only a minute had passed since he turned the amplified gravity on. "You have great mastery over your techniques, but Cell understands them quiet well. The only technique he'd probably have trouble with is your Blast Geyser technique."

"Oh I get it, Cell only knows the techniques I used back in that timeline I apparently died in. If I learned new techniques, I'd be able to fight him more evenly since he wouldn't know how to compete against techniques he's never seen before." He thought it was perfect, since Cell nearly died fighting Vegeta since he underestimated the Final Flash technique. "You could teach me some of your techniques and put my own spin on them."

"That won't work. One year just isn't enough time to fine tune an entire arsenal to face him. Instead, it's easier to work with what we have." Raditz flipped upside-down and started holding himself into doing full-weight push-ups. "It's like the expression Master Roshi taught me, you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"Who exactly are you calling old?!" shouted Nappa, feeling a sting to that coming from another Saiyan.

"It's just an expression. I just mean that it's easier to work with what we have rather than start from scratch." He gets to his 15th push-up before he has to stop and flip back to his feet. "Your techniques are powerful, but they're too simple in execution. We need to adjust them to be something Cell would never expect."

"That simple huh? I suppose that'll work with the time we have. Though I have a request from you in exchange." Nappa crossed his arms as he saw his training partner turn to look at him. "You've told me countless times about that ace technique of yours, but you never quite explained it to me. I'd be satisfied with just knowing the name at this moment."

Raditz just stood there, smiling as he was glad to have Nappa as his training partner. Goku would never have agreed to such favorable conditions, Vegeta would have mocked him for being too weak to being able to use technique of his in the first place, Trunks is too unknown for him to comfortably spend an entire year with and Gohan would have been difficult to train all out with, even in such comforting conditions. Nappa was someone he held a healthy relationship with over the years and their shared inferiority to their betters was a good enough reason for them to bond and help each other improve. The saiyan turned to his ally, ignoring the pain flowing through him as he fulfilled Nappa's simple request.

"Doomsday Finish."

* * *

 **Happy new years everyone. I initially wanted to get this done around Christmas but was a little busy, what with Christmas shopping and life just continuing its streak to be an absolute ass to me. Even still, I try my best to juggle writing this story that helps calm me, the fun I have playing with my online friends, and just living the life that I have. Since I'm in the spirit of New Years, I just want to thank all of you for liking this story as much as you have and making me feel like I actually have some skill in writing. With that out of the way, I'd actually like to leave it up to you on what I do next. With the story primarily focusing on Raditz and Nappa, I have two options. I can either write the next chapter of the two of them training with jump cuts between certain days or just skip the training altogether and inch closer to the Cell Games. Or I can finally post a chapter of that special I promised oh so long ago, taking a look into the History of Trunks special, only with Nion joining that fray. I'll leave a poll here for you to decide and take it into consideration when I get back to writing. With that, here's to 2019.**


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